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Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) in the analysis of baseline activity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and identify measures potentially associated with disease duration and drug resistance., Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study of adult patients with TLE and controls who underwent video-EEG monitoring. Representative artifact-free resting wakefulness baseline EEG segments were selected for quantitative analysis. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) approach was used for the power spectral analysis, with computation of FFT power ratios and alpha-delta and alpha-theta ratios for both hemispheres. The resulting measures were compared between TLE patients and controls and their values as predictors of epilepsy duration and drug resistance analyzed., Results: Thirty-nine TLE patients and 23 controls were included. The TLE patients had a lower alpha-delta ratio in the posterior quadrant ipsilateral to the epileptic focus and a lower alpha-theta ratio in the ipsilateral anterior/posterior quadrants and temporal region. A younger age at onset and longer epilepsy duration correlated with a higher theta power ratio in the contralateral anterior and posterior quadrants and temporal region. No qEEG measures predicted drug resistance., Conclusions: Quantitative electroencephalography background activity may contribute to the diagnosis of TLE and provide useful information on disease duration. A lower alpha-delta and alpha-theta ratio may be reliable baseline qEEG measures for identifying patients with TLE. A higher contralateral theta power ratio may be indicative of longer epilepsy duration., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: We aimed to determine the regional incidence and mortality of adult epilepsy, compare mortality rates with the expected in the general population, and identify predictors of shorter survival., Materials and Methods: We included all consecutive newly diagnosed epilepsy visited at a university hospital in Spain throughout 2012. We collected all relevant clinical data up to December 2018. We analyzed the incidence of epilepsy in our catchment area, studied mortality rates, and explored factors predictive of shorter survival., Results: The annual incidence of epilepsy among adults was 37.7 cases/100,000 inhabitants. We studied 110 patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Mean age was 52.6 years, and 53.6% were men. Eighty-nine patients (80.9%) had focal epilepsy, 50 (45.5%) had a structural etiology, and 45 (40.9%) had an unknown cause. Nineteen patients died over a median follow-up of 5.3 years. Mortality was almost four times higher than expected in general population and was increased in patients aged 40-59 years. Mortality rates were 5.5%, 12%, and 16.8% in the first, second, and third year, after which they remained stable to the end of follow-up. Independent predictors of mortality were age (p = 0.001), tumor-related epilepsy (p = 0.003), and generalized seizures (p = 0.020)., Conclusions: There is a high incidence of epilepsy among adults in our geographic area, with a mortality rate quadrupling that expected for the general population. Age, generalized seizures, and tumor-related epilepsy are independently associated with a higher risk of death., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)