Association of type 1 diabetes mellitus and epilepsy in children. A cohort of 10 cases

• Published in: Archives de pédiatrie : organe officiel de la Société française de pédiatrie Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 9 - 16
• Main Authors: Caietta, E, Halbert, C, Lépine, A, Khammar, A, Cano, A, Gavaret, M, Mancini, J, Villeneuve, N, Chabrol, B, Simonin, G, Reynaud, R, Milh, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: France 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Adolescent; Autoantibodies - blood; Biomarkers - blood; Child; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - complications; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Epilepsy, Generalized - blood; Epilepsy, Generalized - complications; Epilepsy, Generalized - diagnosis; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - blood; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - complications; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - diagnosis; Female; Glutamate Decarboxylase - blood; Hospitals, University; Humans; Infant; Male; Predictive Value of Tests; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sex Distribution
• ISSN: 1769-664X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.arcped.2011.10.010

The association of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and epilepsy has been previously reported. However, the physiopathology of this association remains misunderstood. To describe epilepsy combined with type 1 DM in children. Retrospective monocentric study of all the epileptic and type 1 diabetic children consulting at the Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France. For each patient, the type of epilepsy and its electroclinical and radiographic characteristics were studied as well as the type of diabetes (biological characteristics, glycemic control), and the onset of these 2 diseases. Ten patients are reported. Five suffered from generalized epilepsy (4 idiopathic, 1 nonidiopathic) and 5 from focal epilepsy (4 non-idiopathic, 1 idiopathic). For most of these cases, presence of GAD (glutamic acid decarboxylase) autoantibodies were confirmed and epilepsy followed diabetes. The 2 most common types of epilepsy in this association are idiopathic generalized epilepsy and non-idiopathic temporal epilepsy. Several mechanisms could be involved (immune, glycemia, and genetic disorders).