Circadian and circaseptan rhythms in human epilepsy: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy has long been suspected to be governed by cyclic rhythms, with seizure rates rising and falling periodically over weeks, months, or even years. The very long scales of seizure patterns seem to defy natural explanation and have sometimes been attributed to hormonal cycles or environmental factors. This study aimed to quantify the strength and prevalence of seizure cycles at multiple temporal scales across a large cohort of people with epilepsy. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used the two most comprehensive databases of human seizures (SeizureTracker [USA] and NeuroVista [Melbourne, VIC, Australia]) and analytic techniques from circular statistics to analyse pati..