Article Category: research-article
Published Online: Oct 28, 2021
Page range: 13 - 31
Received: Aug 16, 2021
Accepted: Oct 07, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/joepi-2021-002
Keywords
© 2021 Claude M.J. Braun et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Introduction.
Three neuropathological conditions and two neurosurgical situations have been reported to present significantly earlier seizure onset in cases with autism than without. These are tuberous sclerosis, Angelman syndrome, the
Method.
We reviewed the case-report literature to determine the extension of this
Results.
Cases with autism presented significantly earlier seizure onset than cases without autism in 38 neuropathological conditions out of 162, including the previously established five. These 38 neuropathological conditions typically involved intractable epilepsy caused by focal cortical dysplasia located in the social brain, with the ictal or interictal electrical focus also located in the social brain. Within these 38 neuropathological conditions, in the cases with autism, the median seizure onset occurred between 50 days and 24 months after birth.
Conclusion.
Onset of severe seizure disorder during an early critical post-natal interval, caused by brain damage specifically located in the social brain, strongly associates with subsequent autism.