Aetiology of idiopathic generalised epilepsies
The idiopathic epilepsies are:
- generalised tonic-clonic epilepsy
- juvenile myoclonic epilepsy
- childhood absence epilepsy
- juvenile absence epilepsy
These idiopathic generalised epilepsy syndromes are common, accounting for 60% of all cases of epilepsy.
They are complex genetic diseases with a multi-gene mode of inheritance.
The genetic contribution to the idiopathic generalised epilepsies can be understood from the following statistics:
- the prevelence of idiopathic generalised epilepsy in the community is 0.4%
- the risk of epilepsy in the first degree relative of a patient with one of these syndromes is 8%
- the concordance for dizygotic twins is 24%
- the concordance for monozygotic twins is 65%
To date no genes for idiopathic generalised epilepsy have been identified.
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