Causes of Childhood Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain.

A child's brain contains billions of nerve cells. They communicate with each other through tiny electrical charges that fire on and off in random fashion. When some or all of these cells suddenly begin to fire together, a wave of electrical energy sweeps through the brain, causing a seizure.

Seizures interfere with the child's normal brain functions.They produce sudden changes in consciousness, movement, or sensation.

Some people use the term "seizure disorder" instead of "epilepsy" to describe this condition. Both mean the same thing -- an underlying tendency to experience seizures.

Having a single seizure does not mean a child has epilepsy -- epilepsy is the name for seizures that happen more than once without a known treatable cause, such as fever or low blood sugar.

Often Starts in Childhood

While epilepsy can begin at any time of life, fifty percent of all cases begin before the age of 25. Many start in early childhood.

One reason is that immature brains are more susceptible to seizures from any cause.

Possible Causes

Pinpointing the cause of epilepsy is difficult at any age. In seven out of every ten cases, there is no known cause and they are labeled as having idiopathic epilepsy. "Idiopathic" is a latin word meaning "of unknown cause."

There are many possible causes in children. These include problems with brain development before birth; lack of oxygen during or following birth; a head injury that leaves scaring on the brain; unusual structures in the brain; tumors; a prolonged seizure with fever, or the after-effects of severe brain infections such as meningitis or encephalitis. When a cause can be identified, these children are labeled as having symptomatic epilepsy. The seizures are felt to be a symptom of the underlying brain injury.

Genetic Factors

Epilepsy is a common disorder and frequently within an extended family more than one person may have seizures.

In most cases a specific pattern of inheritance of epilepsy within the family cannot be determined. However, there does appear to be a slightly increased risk of epilepsy in close relatives of individuals with seizures compared to the risk in the general population.

Sometimes there's a family history of seizures, including febrile (fever-caused) seizures, epilepsy, or seizures in childhood that later went into remission.

Absence and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy are two types of epilepsy that tend to run in families and are thought to have a genetic basis.

A lot of research is going on now in an effort to find the genetic roots of some forms of epilepsy or the inherited conditions that have seizures as a primary symptom.