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Value of witness observations in the differential diagnosis of transient loss of consciousness

Chen, M; Jamnadas-Khoda, J; Broadhurst, M; Wall, M; Grünewald, R; Howell, SJL; Koepp, M; ... Reuber, M; + view all (2019) Value of witness observations in the differential diagnosis of transient loss of consciousness. Neurology , 92 (9) e895-e904. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000007017.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study explores to what extent additional information from event witnesses provided using the novel 31-item Paroxysmal Event Observer (PEO) Questionnaire improves the differentiation among epilepsy, syncope, and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) achievable with information provided by patients alone. METHODS: Patients with transient loss of consciousness caused by proven epilepsy (n = 86), syncope (n = 79), or PNES (n = 84) attending specialist neurology/syncope services in the United Kingdom and event observers provided Paroxysmal Event Profile (PEP), PEO, and personal information (PI) (e.g., sex, age, medical history) data. PEO data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). PEO, PEP, and PI data were used separately and in combination to differentiate diagnoses by pairwise and multinomial logistic regressions. Predicted diagnoses were compared with gold standard medical diagnoses. RESULTS: EFA/CFA identified a 4-factor structure of the PEO based on 26/31 questionnaire items with loadings ≥0.4. Observer-reported factors alone differentiated better between syncope and epilepsy than patient-reported factors (accuracy: 96% vs 85%, p = 0.0004). Observer-reported data improved accuracy over differentiation based on patient-reported data alone from 90% to 100% between syncope and epilepsy (p = 0.005), 76% to 83% between epilepsy and PNES (p = 0.006), and 93% to 95% between syncope and PNES (p = 0.098). CONCLUSIONS: Information from observers can make an important contribution to the differentiation of epilepsy from syncope or PNES but adds less to that of syncope from PNES.

Type: Article
Title: Value of witness observations in the differential diagnosis of transient loss of consciousness
Location: United States
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000007017
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000007017
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Nonepileptic seizures, All Epilepsy/Seizures, Syncope
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10071795
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