Twin birth is not a risk factor for seizures

Abstract

There is a belief that perinatal factors are a major cause of epilepsy. We studied a community-based sample of twins, a group with a marked excess of adverse perinatal events. The observed number of nontwin siblings with seizures did not differ from that predicted by the age-specific cumulative incidence rate of seizures (4.2% at age 10 years) in the twins. The types of epilepsies in the twins were largely benign and self-limited and not those associated with brain damage. Zygosity, birth order, and birth weight did not predict affected status. Within affected sibships, the frequency of seizures in co-twins of dizygotic probands (9%) was not different from the frequency in nontwin siblings (..