Natural history of generalized motor seizures: A retrospective analysis.

Abstract Purpose This study aims to characterize the natural history of generalized motor seizures through longitudinal stratification of patient-reported clinical seizures into high, medium and low rates of generalized motor seizures (also known as generalized tonic–clonic seizures or GTCs). Methods From 2007 to 2018, 1.4 million seizures were recorded by 12,402 SeizureTracker.com users that met inclusion/exclusion criteria. The number of GTCs per year since the first seizure diary entry was calculated for each user and categorized as: Low (0 GTCs/year), Medium (1–2 GTCs/year), or High ( > 3 GTCs/year) GTC rates. Results Kaplan–Meier survival curves for the time until exiting the initial category were computed. There was a global difference between risk groups (p  Conclusion A patient with a low rate of GTCs is likely to remain at low risk for future GTCs, whereas higher GTC rate patients (at least one GTC/year) may leave their initial risk stratification. Thus, yearly re-assessment may be prudent when considering risk of further GTCs. Given the association between higher yearly rates of GTCs with increased SUDEP risk and morbidity in epilepsy, further validation of these findings is important for prognostication.