Physical Activity, Heath‐Related Fitness, and Health Experience in Adults with Childhood‐Onset Epilepsy: A Controlled Study

Abstract

Summary: Purpose: To show any possible associations between childhood-onset epilepsy and physical activity, health-related fitness, and health experience.Methods: A population-based cohort of 176 patients with epilepsy since childhood was monitored for a mean of 35 years. Patients with recurrent, unprovoked epileptic seizures with no associated initial neurologic impairment or disability, termed those with "epilepsy only" (n = loo), were compared with matched controls for self-reported physical activity, health experience, laboratory tests, body mass index, and muscle power tests.Results: On the basis of muscle tests, physical fitness proved to be significantly poorer in patients with "epilepsy only" than in matched controls. During the preceding year, 22% of patients and 24% of controls had reduced their physical activities because of some illness; only 2% reduced their physical activities because of epilepsy. No significant ~~ difference was found in blood status, except for a lower serum creatinine level in the patients. Current antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy appeared significantly associated with lower hemoglobin and creatinine levels and higher highdensity lipoprotein values. The patients perceived their health status to be comparable with that of controls, irrespective of physical inactivity, continued seizures, or AED monotherapy. However, patients receiving AED polytherapy perceived their health as rather poor or very poor significantly more often than did controls.Conclusions: Based on objective muscle tests, adults with childhood-onset "epilepsy only" have poorer physical fitness than do matched controls, but they have a feeling of good personal health.

Evaluation of intense physical effort in subjects with temporal lobe epilepsy

“…however, experts had felt that exercise, in general, did not affect seizure frequency and might, in fact, be protective against seizures. Actually, the main recommendation for people with epilepsy is concerned to aerobic physical activity 1,6,9,12,14,19 . Nevertheless, one question that has not been clarified is whether physical activities requiring intense, exhaustive, prolonged or maximal effort could precipitate seizures.…”

“…Another important point to be addressed is that although seizures do not occur frequently during low and moderate exercise, such as aerobic physical activities, some reports have also shown rare or no seizures during maximal physical effort 9,14 . These findings are quite interesting because among studies which evaluate the effect of physical exercise on epilepsy, most use questionnaires or standardized tests of physical endurance 1,7 . Thus, among the several factors to be considered when prescribing physical activities to people with epilepsy, such as recommendations for specific sports, seizure control, intensity and duration of exercise, intensity of effort is a subject not well explored.…”

“…exercise is well known to improve health and quality of life in the general population and this is true for those with epilepsy as well. Overprotection, understimulation, low self-esteem, isolation, depression, and anxiety may create barriers to an active lifestyle 1 . People with epilepsy most often cite emotional difficulties, such as depression from underemployment, undereducation, and social isolation 2 .…”

The effects of treadmill exercise on oxidative stress in Mongolian gerbils with penicillin-induced epilepsy

“…Gotze et al [21] were the first to investigate the positive effect of physical exercise on seizure threshold. After that, some clinical and experimental studies have investigated the effects of various exercise models on behavioral, electrophysiological, cellular, molecular and biochemical outcomes in the epileptic condition [9,19,22,23]. In addition, regular exercise can relieve psychological and cardiovascular adverse events in epileptic patients and reduce the number of seizures [17].…”

Epilepsia, actividad física y deporte

“…En Finlandia, un estudio no demostró diferencias significativas entre las personas con epilepsia y los controles en la frecuencia de la actividad físi-ca semanal y mensual; no obstante, llama la atención que 9 % de los afectados reportaron inactividad física frente a 2 % de los controles. El mismo estudio encontró un desempeño en las pruebas de fuerza muscular por debajo de lo esperado en las personas con antecedente de crisis comiciales (6). El sedentarismo fue más frecuente de manera estadísticamente significativa entre los afectados (25 %) frente a los controles (13 %) en un trabajo llevado a cabo en Noruega (7).…”