Serum Vitamin E Levels in Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy at a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria
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MEDICINE
Serum Vitamin E Levels in Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy at a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria Joy C. Ekezie 1,2
&
Christy A. N. Okoromah 1 & Foluso E. A. Lesi 1
Accepted: 9 October 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Vitamin E, the most important fat-soluble antioxidant in humans, is reported to be lower in individuals with epilepsy and may be beneficial when used as add-on therapy to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The study aimed to measure the serum vitamin E levels in Nigerian children and adolescents with epilepsy and explore the possible association with some of their clinical characteristics. The study was cross-sectional in design and conducted in 80 patients with epilepsy aged 3 months to 18 years attending the Pediatric Neurology clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 2017, and 80 age- and sex-matched apparently healthy controls. Serum vitamin E was assayed using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, cholesterol was assayed spectrophotometrically, and serum vitamin E/cholesterol ratio was calculated. Mean (SD) serum vitamin E level was within normal range in both patients and controls at 7.988 (1.127) μg/dl and 7.971 (0.764) μg/dl respectively (P > 0.05). However, serum vitamin E/cholesterol ratio was significantly lower in patients (0.054 ± 0.017 μg/mg) than in controls (0.061 ± 0.022 μg/ mg) (P = 0.018). Also, serum vitamin E/cholesterol ratio of 51.2% of patients was in the 25th percentile compared with 22.5% of controls (P = 0.001). No significant association was found between serum vitamin E or vitamin E/cholesterol ratio and various seizure characteristics. Cholesterol-adjusted serum vitamin E level was significantly lower in Nigerian children and adolescents with epilepsy compared to age- and sex-matched controls irrespective of their clinical characteristics. Further studies are needed to evaluate the possible role of vitamin E therapy in improving seizure control and child health. Keywords Epilepsy . Vitamin E . Tocopherol . Children . Adolescents
Introduction Epilepsy is a disease of the brain defined by any of the following conditions: At least two unprovoked (or reflex) seizures occurring more than 24 h apart; one unprovoked (or reflex) seizure and a probability of further seizures occurring over the next 10 years (at least 60%, similar to the general recurrence risk after two unprovoked seizures); or diagnosis of an epilepsy syndrome [1]. The World Health Organization [2] described epilepsy as a chronic noncommunicable disease which poses a global health concern. This article is part of the Topical Collection on Medicine * Joy C. Ekezie [email protected] 1
Department of Pediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, PMB 12003, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria
2
Department of Pediatrics, BronxCare Health System, 1650 Selwyn Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457, USA
About 80% of the 50 million people affected worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, and two-thirds are children [3, 4]. The prevalence of epilepsy in children ranges from 3.2 t
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