Is sudden unexplained death in adult epileptic patients associated with geomagnetic disturbances at the day of death or the 4 days before?

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2002-09, Vol.329 (3), p.261-264
• Main Authors: Schnabel, Ralf, Beblo, Martin, May, Theodor W, Burmester, Luise
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult inpatients; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Death, Sudden - etiology; Epilepsy; Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic - complications; Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic - mortality; Female; Geomagnetic activity; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Inpatients - statistics & numerical data; Magnetics; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Solar Activity; Sudden unexplained death
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3940(02)00670-5

Geomagnetic disturbances are controversially discussed as risk factor for sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP). An autopsy-based cohort of 39 adult patients with definite SUDEP were compared to 102 epileptic patients with known cause of death (KCD), who died between 1981 and 1992. Most of them had suffered from therapy-resistant epilepsies, predominantly characterized by generalized tonic-clonic seizures (about 70%). We analyzed an international geomagnetic index, the mean planetary daily amplitude (Ap), and the appearance of storm sudden commencement (SSC) at the individual day of decease and the 4 days before (and after). The SUDEP and KCD patients did not substantially differ with respect to the Ap values (Mann–Whitney test; P>0.2) and frequency of SSC (Fisher test; P>0.2) at death or the 4 premortem days. In addition, Ap values above 50 nanoTesla, postulated as critical threshold by other authors, showed no significant difference between SUDEP and KCD group for the day of death (5.1 versus 3.9%) or the 4 days before (5.1 versus 11.8%) (Fisher test; P>0.2). Consequently, the current data did not support the hypothesis that geomagnetic activities may act as a relevant risk factor for SUDEP.