WEDNESDAY, Feb. 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- An intervention involving seizure dogs can reduce seizure frequency and increase the number of seizure-free days among people living with severe medically refractory epilepsy, according to a study published online Feb. 28 in Neurology.
Valérie van Hezik-Wester, from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted an individual-level stepped-wedge randomized controlled trial among adults with daily to weekly seizures in the Netherlands. Participants received a seizure dog in a randomized sequence during the 36-month follow-up; 20 participants were observed under both the usual care and intervention conditions.
The researchers found that on average, participants experienced 115 and 73 seizures per 28-day period in the usual care and intervention conditions. At the end of follow-up, seven participants achieved a reduction of 50 percent or more. For each consecutive 28-day period with the intervention, generalized linear mixed modeling indicated a 3.1 percent decrease in seizure frequency. In addition, there was an increase seen in the number of seizure-free days, but no change in seizure severity. Improvement was seen in the generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores, as reflected by a decrease in the EQ-5D-5L utility decrement. Smaller improvements were seen in overall self-rated HRQoL, epilepsy-specific HRQoL, and well-being.
"This research showed improvements across all outcome measures except for seizure severity over time with the intervention. Improvements in seizure frequency and generic HRQoL were most sizeable," the authors write.
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