Participation of epileptic patients in sports

Epileptic patients are frequently advised not to participate in sports. This restriction hampers the lives of many young people, without clear evidence of its necessity. Data are presented here on 5 patients seen in the epilepsy clinic who had seizures while engaging in sports. These were the first seizures to have occurred in three of the patients. The physiologic alterations involved in sports which could lead to seizure are emotional stress, hyperventilation and elevation of body temperature. On the other hand, the physical activity itself, through release of catecholamines, may elevate the convulsive threshold. From an analysis of these five cases, it is concluded that restriction of participation in sport is not necessarily to the benefit of most epileptic patients. Participation in sport should rather be evaluated on an individual basis.