Introduction: Seizures are the most frequently-seen neurological emergency in neonates.The first weeks of life are a time of heightened risk for seizures due to age-dependent risk factors.Neonatal seizures are harmful to the developing brain; early and accurate diagnosis is critical.Methods: We reviewed the clinical course of 75 infants serially admitted for convulsive seizures during the period 2016-2021 in the Grodno region of Belarus.All information relevant to the course of pregnancy and childbirth, gestational age, characteristics of seizures and data from laboratory and instrumental research methods were recorded.Results: Most patients in our cohort were full-term (52/75, 69.3%).There was a history of severe obstetric complications in 69/75 (92%).A risk of miscarriage and acute respiratory viral infection had been recorded in the mother in 25/75 (33%) each.The main causative factors for seizures were hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (64/75, 85.3%), perinatal infections (52/75, 70%), metabolic disorders (24/75, 32%), and intracranial hemorrhages (20/75, 26.7%).Seizures were seen most often in the early neonatal period (61/75, 81.3%; p < 0.001).Motor automatisms (36/75, 48%) and clonic convulsions (30/75, 40%) were seen frequently.Conclusion: Our team was able to identify motor seizures more frequently.The main causes of seizures were hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, perinatal infections, metabolic disorders, and intracranial hemorrhages but the etiology could not be identified in many cases.Further work is needed for timely identification of cause as etiology is a leading predictor of outcome.
Pratasevich et al. (Wed,) studied this question.