Cláudia Cecília da Silva Rêgo, Valéria Pereira, Isabella D´Andrea-Meira, Shaylla Vilas Boas Viana, Raquel Oliveira, Emerson Gasparetto, Jorge Marcondes de Souza and Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) with praxis-induced seizures consists of a complex group of generalized
epileptic syndromes. The aim of the present study was identifying the association between self-perception trigger
factors and myoclonic jerks. Twenty-two patients were submitted to a protocol of neuropsychological activation
(NPA) during video-electroencephalography (video-EEG) methods for 4-6 hours. A questionnaire was applied
regarding patients' self-perception of factors that precipitate of seizures comparing with the video-EEG findings.
Stress and sleep deprivation were perceived as triggers by 81.82%, followed by mental concentration (36.36%) and
manual activities (31.82%). Praxis-induced seizures occurred in 36.4% of these patients. Self-perception of stress
(81.82%), flashing lights (22.73%) and reading (13.64%) as triggering factors was significantly associated with
triggering myoclonic seizures during video-EEG. We conclude that main finding of this study is the strong correlation
between self-perception of trigger factors and actual trigger factors for seizures.
