Computed tomography abnormalities and epidemiology of adult patients presenting with first seizure to the emergency department in Qatar
Academic Emergency Medicine, 21(11), 1264-1268 · 2014 · doi:10.1111/acem.12508
Cited by 28+ (per Google Scholar, Aug 2026 — check live count)
Plain-language summary
A one-year study of 439 adults who came to a major Doha emergency department after a first-ever seizure. The team examined how often a brain CT scan picked up something abnormal, and how the picture differed from data mostly generated in North America and Europe. Over a third of scans (35%) showed an abnormality, and around 15% showed something clinically significant — including neurocysticercosis, tumours, or bleeds. Patients whose scans were abnormal were more likely to have a repeat seizure within six months.
Why this matters
Guidance on when to CT-scan a first-seizure patient is largely built on Western population data. This study supplied one of the first regional datasets from the Gulf, and its high positive-finding rate — with neurocysticercosis (a parasitic infection rare in the West) prominent among the causes — supports routine CT imaging for first-seizure adults in this population and highlights how local disease patterns should shape emergency imaging guidelines.
Published abstract
Objectives: There is little information available from the Middle Eastern region on adult patients presenting with first seizure. The objectives of this study were to describe epidemiological characteristics of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) in Doha, Qatar, with first seizure and to determine the incidence of computed tomographic (CT) scan abnormalities. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all adult patients with first seizure presenting to Hamad General Hospital ED over a 1-year period. Results: There were 439 patients who satisfied inclusion criteria, aged a mean of 35.3 years with a male-to-female ratio of five to one. CT abnormalities were detected in 154 patients (35.3%). Out of reported abnormal scans, 14.7% had significant abnormalities such as neurocysticercosis (9.2%), brain metastasis and neoplasm (3.4%), and subarachnoid/subdural hemorrhage, cavernous sinus thrombosis, acute stroke, and brain edema (2.0%). Patients with initial abnormal CT results were more likely to have recurrent seizures within 6 months. Conclusions: Adults presenting with first seizure to the ED in Qatar had a young male predominance, and a high proportion of brain CT scans were abnormal.
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Keywords
first seizure computed tomography emergency department Qatar neuroimaging
Cite this publication
Pathan SA, Abosalah S, Nadeem S, Ali A, Hameed AA, Marathe M, Cameron PA. Computed tomography abnormalities and epidemiology of adult patients presenting with first seizure to the emergency department in Qatar. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2014;21(11):1264-1268. doi:10.1111/acem.12508Copied!