Biomedical subjects

K Ruggles

Publications and source records attributed to K Ruggles.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Incidence and risk factors in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine incidence of and risk factors for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). METHODS: Three epilepsy centers enrolled 4,578 patients and prospectively followed these patients for 16,463 patient-years. The cohort was screened for death annually. Deaths were investigated to determine whether SUDEP occurred. Potential risk factors were compared in SUDEP cases and in controls enrolled contemporaneously at the same center. RESULTS: Incidence of SUDEP was 1.21/1,000 patient-years and was higher among women (1.45/1,000) than men (0.98/1,000). SUDEP accounted for 18% of all deaths. Occurrence of tonic-clonic seizures, treatment with more than two anticonvulsant medications, and full-scale IQ less than 70 were independent risk factors for SUDEP. The number of tonic-clonic seizures was a risk factor only in women. The presence of cerebral structural lesions and use of psychotropic drugs at the last visit were not risk factors for SUDEP in this cohort. Subtherapeutic anticonvulsant levels at the last visit were equally common in the two groups. No particular anticonvulsant appeared to be associated with SUDEP. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the idea that tonic-clonic seizures are an important proximate cause of SUDEP. This information creates a risk profile for SUDEP that may help direct preventative efforts.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Incidence of spikes and paroxysmal rhythmic events in overnight ambulatory computer-assisted EEGs of normal subjects: a multicenter study.

The incidences of spikes and paroxysmal rhythmic events (PREs) in 10-h overnight EEGs of normal adult volunteers (n=135) were studied at 11 sites with a computer-assisted ambulatory EEG monitoring system with automatic spike and PRE detection. Spikes were evident in the overnight EEG of 1 subject (0.7%), and PREs were apparent in the overnight EEG of the same subject (0.7%). The incidences of spikes of 24 other subjects with a history of migraine and/or a family history of epilepsy were 12.5 and 13.3%, respectively. The overnight EEGs of these subjects were significantly more likely to show spikes than the overnight EEGs of subjects without migraine or a family history of epilepsy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Eye movement patterns in REM sleep.

Eye movements in 6 healthy men and women were studied for recurrent patterns during REM sleep. The REM periods of nocturnal polysomnograms, on 2 consecutive nights, were analyzed in each subject. A discrete scale from 1 to 8 was used to record each eye position. The total number of recorded eye positions for the 2 nights of testing varied from 1314 to 3006. The distributions of eye movement were similar for males and females, for both nights of testing for each subject, among individual REM periods, and between subjects. This was in spite of marked differences in the number and length of REM periods, and in the number of eye movements per minute of REM sleep. In 5 of 6 subjects there was a marked tendency for the eyes to move between the 2 opposite lateral positions. Regardless of the eye position, the opposite movement was generally most likely, with an underlying tendency to return to the most opposite of the two lateral positions. In the remaining subject the opposite movement was also favored, but in this subject eye movements were more likely to be vertical rather than horizontal. Our data suggest that eye movements in REM sleep are organized in complex recurring patterns, with marked similarities between subjects. The significance of these patterns and the significance of deviations from these patterns require further study.

Adult↗