Abstract
Background: Identifying temporal and seasonal patterns may help improve patient management and treatment planning. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate these patterns in seizure occurrences among patients diagnosed with epilepsy.
Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis was conducted using medical records from 1,962 epilepsy patients admitted to Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, between 2021 and 2023. Data related to seizure timing (by hour, day of week, and season), patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and adherence to anti-seizure medication were extracted and then analyzed using SPSS 23.
Results: The mean age of all patients was 38.5 years, and 52.3% were male. The highest frequency of seizures was recorded between 23:00 and 23:59 (6.3%), while the lowest frequency was between 07:00 and 07:59 (1.5%). Moreover, weekly analysis revealed that seizures occurred most frequently on Saturdays (15.3%) but least on Mondays (13.3%). In terms of season, autumn and spring had the highest (27.3%) and lowest (23.1%) seizure frequencies, respectively. Ultimately, no statistically significant relationship was found between seizure recurrence and either time of day or season.
Conclusion: Although temporal and seasonal peaks were observed in seizure occurrence, these variations were not statistically meaningful. Nonetheless, these findings highlight the potential for aligning antiepileptic drug prescribing with biological rhythms. It is recommended that future studies use continuous electroencephalography monitoring to validate and expand upon these findings.