Genetics of idiopathic epilepsies

Importance of pedigree in patients with familial epilepsy and intellectual disability

In this study, we prospectively evaluated demographic characteristics, clinical findings and pedigree patterns in 70 patients with familial epilepsy and/or intellectual disability (ID)/global developmental delay (GDD) and/or motor retardation but without specific etiologic diagnosis to determine genetic inheritance patterns by using at least a three-generation pedigree analysis. Mean age of the patients was 6.85 ± 3.93 years and male/female ratio was 1.50. There was consanguinity between the parents of 47 (67.1%) patients. Only epilepsy was diagnosed in 14 patients; only ID/GDD in 22; epilepsy and ID/GDD in 9 and epilepsy and ID/GDD and motor retardation in 25 patients. Genetic inheritance pattern was definitely determined in 60 (85.7%) patients, and most of the patients (61.4%) displayed autosomal recessive inheritance. Based on our findings, we suggest that a three-generation pedigree analysis should be obtained in all patients with familial neurological disorders, including epilepsy, ID/GDD and motor retardation, to optimise counselling, screening and diagnostic testing.