In a large-scale study of electronic health records investigators determined the prevalence of functional seizures and characterized comorbidities associated with them. Functional seizures are sudden attacks or spasms that look like epileptic seizures but do not have the aberrant brain electrical patterns of epilepsy. The research team confirmed associations between functional seizures and psychiatric disorders and sexual assault trauma and discovered a novel association with stroke.

Functional seizures are sudden attacks or spasms that look like epileptic seizures but do not have the aberrant brain electrical patterns of epilepsy.

The research team, headed by Lea Davis, PhD, associate professor of Medicine and an investigator in the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, confirmed associations between functional seizures and psychiatric disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression as well as sexual assault trauma. They also discovered a novel association between functional seizures and cerebrovascular disease, including stroke.

The findings were reported in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Also known as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, functional seizures have been historically understudied. Patients often experience a long delay — on average seven years — before they receive an accurate diagnosis.

About 80% of patients experiencing functional seizures are initially misdiagnosed with epilepsy and treated with anti-epileptic drugs, said Slavina Goleva, a graduate student in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and first author of the study. An accurate diagnosis requires assessment with video electroencephalogram (EEG).

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Materials provided by Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Original written by Leigh MacMillan. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.