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After patients are diagnosed with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs), what factors predict 1-year clinical and social outcomes? To address this question, researchers retrospectively examined data on 260 patients with PNES (75% women), of whom 187 attended at least one follow-up clinic visit. Mean age at diagnosis was 37.8 years; the average diagnostic delay was 3.8 years. One third reported prior sexual abuse, and 10% had comorbid epilepsy.
At final follow-up (at about 6 or 12 months), 38% had been spell-free for at least 2 months, while 19% had a 50% or greater increase in spell frequency. Patients were more likely to be spell-free at follow-up if they had no anxiety or depression (relative risk, 2.3), had no social security payments…