Anticardiolipin and antinuclear antibodies in epilepsy—a population-based cross-sectional study

• Published in: Epilepsy research 2004, Vol.58 (1), p.13-18
• Main Authors: Ranua, J., Luoma, K., Peltola, J., Haapala, A.M., Raitanen, J., Auvinen, A., Isojärvi, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin - blood; Antibodies, Antinuclear - blood; Anticardiolipin antibodies; Antinuclear antibodies; Autoantibodies; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cohort Studies; Cross-Sectional Studies; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - blood; Epilepsy - classification; Epilepsy - epidemiology; Epilepsy - immunology; Female; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Prevalence
• ISSN: 0920-1211; 1872-6844
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2003.12.004

Increased prevalence of autoantibodies has been suggested in patients with epilepsy. This study determined the presence of autoantibodies in a representative cohort of 960 patients with epilepsy. The frequency of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), immunoglobulin G class anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and anti-B2-glycoprotein I antibodies were studied in 960 consenting adult patients with epilepsy and in 580 population-based reference subjects identified from the Finnish Population Registry. Overall the frequencies of the autoantibodies studied did not differ between patients with epilepsy and reference subjects. aCL were present in 4.5% of the patients and in 5.0% of the reference subjects and 17% of both the patients and the reference subjects had antinuclear antibodies. However, patients with partial epilepsy for ≥30 years were three times more likely to have aCL than patients with partial epilepsy for