Overuse of EEG and ECG in children with breath-holding spells and its implication for the management of the spells

AIM: Breath-holding spells (BHS) are common in children, but evidence-based clinical guidelines are lacking. We investigated a large population-based cohort of BHS patients, to propose a refined description of typical BHS and guidelines for its management.

METHODS: In a cross-sectional retrospective study, patients diagnosed with BHS in Southern Sweden 2004-2018 were recruited. Disease characteristics and diagnostic data were collected from patient medical records.

RESULTS: In total, 519 patients, mean age at diagnosis 19.8 ± 13.8 months with equal gender distribution, were included. In 48.3%, BHS had already been diagnosed after one spell. During spells, 78.0% of patients were unresponsive. For 71.5%, atonic, tonic, tonic-clonic or myoclonic seizures were reported, and 78.0% of patients had a spell lasting less than 1 min. Electroencephalography was conducted in 30.4% and Electroencephalography in 45.1%. Six children (3.8%) had a pathological electroencephalogram, four of which had concomitant epilepsy and only 0.9% of children had electrocardiogram findings suggesting pathology, none showing long QT syndrome.

CONCLUSION: Children with BHS were frequently subjected to unnecessary diagnostic interventions. We characterise a typical presentation of BHS and propose a management-algorithm, which is expected to reduce unnecessary usage of electroencephalography and electroencephalography.