We evaluated prospectively the occurrence of seizures within 15 days of a first stroke or transient ischemic episode in 1,640 patients to study relation between seizures and type of stroke. Seizures occurred in 90 patients (5.4%), including 36 (4.4%) of 814 with infarct owing to atheroma, 21 (16.6%) of 126 with infarct owing to cardiogenic embolus, 3 (1%) of 273 owing to lacunar infarct, 5 (1.9%) of 259 owing to transient ischemic attack (TIA), 21 (16.2%) of 129 owing to supratentorial hematoma, and 4 (16.6%) of 24 owing to subarachnoid hemorrhage. Thirteen (14.6%) of 89 subcortical infarcts were associated with seizures. Seizures were the initial sign of stroke in 80 (89%) of 90 cases and were usually single and partial. Seizure symptoms were most often motor, sensory, or visual.

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid‐19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled‐analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid‐19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal‐logistic models and pooled by a fixed‐effect meta‐analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti‐CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid‐19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled‐analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid‐19 in patients on anti‐CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon.

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Risk factors for primary cerebral hemorrhage remain uncertain. The population-based Stroke Registry of Dijon provides data on the risk factors. Among residents of Dijon (France), 130 cases of primary cerebral hemorrhage hospitalized from 1985 to 1992 were matched with 130 controls by age and sex. The following data were collected: history of hypertension, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, history of coagulation disorder, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and infectious disease in the 7 days before admission. The following parameters were measured on admission: blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, hematocrit, fibrinogen, prothrombin levels, platelet counts, prothrombin time, bilirubin, transaminases, Γ-glutamyltransferase, and alkaline phosphatase. Electrocardiogram and Doppler ultrasound examination of cervical arteries were performed. Statistical analysis was performed by means of relative risk ratio for paired samples when dealing with proportions, and Student's t test for quantitative variables. A stepwise discriminant analysis was carried out to establish the relative weight of the different risk factors and their discriminant values. Among the qualitative data, the significant factors were history of hypertension, alcohol consumption, cardiac arrhythmia, atherosclerosis of carotid arteries and a previous infectious disease in the 7 days before admission. Among the quantitative data, the significant factors were early hypertension, high blood glucose levels, high hematocrit, and low cholesterol levels, in the acute stage of the stroke. After multifactorial analysis, only two factors were significant: hypertension and low cholesterol levels. Our population-based case-control study showed that hypertension and low cholesterol levels are the two discriminant risk factors for both lobar and basal ganglia primary cerebral hemorrhage. Therefore, treatment of hypercholesterolemia may increase risk of cerebral hemorrhage.