Electroencephalographic Studies of Asthmatic Children

Abstract

Summary 1. One hundred children suffering from bronchial asthma, aged 2—15, without a hereditary predisposition for convulsive diseases, and without any convulsive manifestations of their own, were examined with regard to the occurrence of EEG changes. 2. Pathological EEG of different degrees and types occurred in 36 cases. 3. The type of EEG changes comprised partly a slow dysrhythmia — in about 2/3 of the cases most evident occipitally — partly focal spikes or sharp waves, in 3 cases, and general waves and spike episodes in another 3 cases. 4. The occurrence of an allergic heredity, the duration of the asthma and the age of onset showed no correlation to the occurrence of EEG changes. 5. The degree of severity of the asthma seems to have a certain relation to the occurrence of pathological EEG.