Frequency of abnormal electroencephalogram in asymptomatic relatives of patients with epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analaysis

摘要

Objective: To systematically review studies of asymptomatic relatives of patients with Juvenile Myoclonic (JME), Childhood Absence (CAE) and Benign Rolandic (RE) Epilepsy who had an abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) recording and determine the frequency of these waves through meta-analysis in order to better understand the genetics and mode of inheritance of idiopathic epilepsy.;Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINHAL and Cochrane databases were searched. Two independent reviewers conducted all screening levels, data abstraction, and quality appraisal. A meta-analysis was performed.;Results: After screening 10,233 citations and 211 full-text articles, 15 studies were included. A total 3885 asymptomatic relatives were included. The prevalence of all abnormal waves in asymptomatic relatives was 31%. Prevalence for each epilepsy type was 21% for JME, 42% for CAE and 33% for RE.;Conclusion: Further investigations are needed to test inheritance patterns to identify "major" genes.