Clinical factors associated with the yield of routine outpatient scalp electroencephalograms: A retrospective analysis from a tertiary hospital

Abstract

The routine outpatient electroencephalogram (EEG) is most often used in the diagnosis and classification of epilepsy. The diagnostic yield of outpatient EEGs is low and the clinical factors contributing to the EEG outcome have not been well established. In this study, we sought to determine the yield and the factors predicting the EEG outcome. We retrospectively analyzed 1092 routine adult EEGs that were performed in a tertiary referral center over a period of 1year. Patient demographics, sources of referral, and indications for EEG were recorded. The majority of the referrals were from neurologists (54.7%), followed by the emergency department (15.4%). The indications for requesting an EEG ..