Hematological Findings in Epilepsy: Associations with Seizure Type

Epilepsy and Hematological Parameters

Abstract

Background: Evidently relating systemic inflammation and blood disorders to inflammatory pathogenesis, epilepsy occurs as a chronic neurological disorder. This study aimed to evaluate the comparative relationship of complete blood count (CBC) with epilepsy in  epileptic patients and healthy control.

Methods: A retrospective case-control study was performed in Peshawar, Pakistan on 284 patients with epilepsy and 100 control subjects. The CBC including  white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (HGB), platelets (PLT) and different leukocyte fractions were performed.  The independent t-tests and multivariate logistic regression models at *p* <0.05 significance level was performed.

Results: Patients with epilepsy showed markedly elevated WBC counts (12.34 ± 5.45 vs. 8.26 ± 2.05 ×10³/µL, *p* < 0.001) and had lower RBC counts (4.37 ± 0.77 vs. 4.75 ± 0.62 ×10⁶/µL, *p* < 0.001) alongside HGB levels of 11.19 ± 2.13 g/dL (*p* < 0.001) which is significantly lower than the control group’s 13.25 ± 1.94 g/dL. Cytometry revealed a statistically significant elevation in PLT count (350.99 ± 175.96 vs 289.73 ± 77.93 ×10³/µL, *p* = 0.001). The most common seizure type observed was generalized tonic-clonic seizures (76.76%), with considerable hematologic findings suggestive of inflammation and anemia.

Conclusion: The research underscores specific CBC anomalies in epilepsy which confirm inflammatory and hematological pathways relevant to the disease’s mechanisms. These results are consistent with previous studies, but also incorporate new findings which indicate more research is needed for the investigation of CBC-based biomarkers for epilepsy treatment.