Stress response in childhood epilepsy
completed prior to entering the experiment, and based on the association between stress and seizures as determined from the analysis of prospective diaries during a period that the children actually reported seizures, even though the two methods resulted in different selections of children. These substantial differences in stress-induced cortisol levels between children with and without stress-sensitive seizures strongly support the idea that interindividual variation in stress sensitivity of seizures has a biological base.
Table 3. Determinants of cortisol response to stress in children with epilepsy cortisol (AUCi) characteristics
univariable
multivariable
β
p-value
0.06
0.64
β
p-value
-
ns
general sex, male age, years
0.14
0.30
intelligence
0.29
0.03
ref
ref
-0.08
0.59
0.14
0.32
ref
ref
- intermediate (9-12)
0.07
0.61
- poor (<=8)
0.25
0.07
0.21
0.12
age at onset, year
0.18
0.19
epilepsy duration
-0.07
0.60
seizure frequency (ln)
-0.24
0.09
localisation, focal
-0.11
0.44
- genetic
0.17
0.23
- structural/metabolic
0.07
0.61
ref
ref
-0.23
- acute - periods
puberty stage, - prepubertal - not prepubertal body mass index sleep quality night before stress test - good (13-15)
negative life events
6 0.30
0.03
-
ns
0.09
-0.27
0.05
-0.28
0.04
-0.30
0.03
0.07
0.61
epilepsy-related
etiology,
- unknown anti-epileptic drugs, number self-reported stress sensitivity of seizures
ref reference group; ln log transformed to obtain normality; bold p < 0.05.
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