Question
What factors or causes lead to pediatric epilepsy?
Answer
Epilepsy can cause significant harm to both patients and their families, and it is more prone to occur in women and children, affecting them greatly. There are many factors and complex causes that can lead to the onset of epilepsy. Firstly, genetics is an important factor in epilepsy, which can be categorized into primary and secondary forms. Primary epilepsy is often due to developmental abnormalities during fetal development, with some cases caused by genetics. Secondary epilepsy usually results from later injuries or diseases such as trauma. Secondly, nutritional metabolic diseases like hypoglycemia, diabetic coma, vitamin B6 deficiency, and hyperthyroidism can all trigger recurrent seizures. Poisoning from substances like lead, coal gas, pesticides, and systemic diseases such as hepatic encephalopathy, acute nephritis, and uremia can also cause epilepsy to recur. Lastly, birth injuries are a common factor in symptomatic epilepsy in infants and young children. The causes of birth injuries include forceps delivery, vacuum extraction, cephalopelvic disproportion, abnormal fetal position, macrosomia, prolonged labor, advanced maternal age, and tight birth canal.