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Volume 8, Number 6—June 2002
Research

Neurocysticercosis in Radiographically Imaged Seizure Patients in U.S. Emergency Departments1

Samuel Ong*Comments to Author , David A. Talan*, Gregory J. Moran*, William R. Mower*, Michael Newdow*, Victor C.W. Tsang†, Robert W. Pinner†, and the EMERGEncy ID NET Study Group2
Author affiliations: *Olive View-University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center, Sylmar, California, USA; †Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;

Main Article

Table 4

Demographic and clinical characteristics of neurocysticercosis patientsa and non-neurocysticercosis patients

Features Neurocysticercosis patients
n=37 (%) Non-neurocysticercosis patients
n=1,796 (%) Relative risk
95% CI
Sex, male 27 (73.0) 1,189 (66.0)
Racial/ethnic backgroundb
Black 4 (10.8) 746 (41.6)
White, non-Hispanic 3 (8.1) 640 (35.7)
Hispanic 29 (78.4) 291 (16.2) 17.1 (7.9 to 37.1)
Insurance status
Medicare/private 7 (18.9) 455 (25.3)
Medicaid 3 (8.1) 386 (21.5)
Uninsured 22 (59.5) 738 (41.1) 2.5 (1.2 to 5.2)
Immigrant statusc
Born in US 5 (21.0) 815 (62.0)
Not born in US 12 (50.0) 166 (13.0) 11.1 (3.9 to 31.0)
Unknown 7 (29.0) 343 (26.0)
Exposure to endemic region
No travel out of US 0 (0) 950 (52.9)
Exposure to endemic region 28 (75.7) 314 (17.5) 158 (9.7 to 2,581)
Unknown travel history 9 (24.3) 532 (29.6)
Prior history of neurocysticercosisc
Positive prior history 3 (16.0) 5 (0.5) 21.6 (7.8 to 59.8)
No prior history 16 (84.0) 906 (99.5)
Seizure type
Generalized 26 (70.3) 1,551 (86.4) 0.38 (0.18 to 0.80)d
Tonic/clonic 4
Focal motor 2 (5.4) 112 (6.2)
Partial complex 7 (18.9) 79 (4.4)
Unknown/undocumented 2 (5.4) 54 (3.0)
Seizure history
New onset 19 (51.0) 877 (49.0) 1.1 (0.56 to 2.02)
Prior seizure history 17 (46.0) 793 (44.0)
Serologic testing
Seropositive 9 (36.0) 9 (1.0) NAe
Seronegative 16 (64.0) 856 (99.0)
Disposition
Admission 16 (43.0) 865 (48.0) 1.0 (0.5 to 2.0)
Discharge 15 (41.0) 801 (45.0)

aA patient was a person who met the case definition for neurocysticercosis. See text. The median age for neurocysticercosis patients was 32 yrs, with a range of 25–44 yrs; the median age of non-neurocysticercosis patients was 40 yrs (range 30–52 yrs).
bn = 36 for this category.
cn = 1,343; immigrant status was not collected from the first 490 patients enrolled.
dGeneralized seizure versus focal motor or partial complex seizures.
eNA, not applicable. Comparison was not done since serology was part of the case definition for neurocysticercosis.
CI, confidence intervals.

Main Article

1 Presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Washington, DC, May, 1997.

2 The following investigators and centers collaborated in the EMERGEncy ID NET Study Group: Principal investigator, D. Talan; Coinvestigator, G. Moran; Director of Informatics and Biostatistics, W. Mower; Project Coordinator, M. Newdow; Assistant Director of Informatics, S. Ong; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborators, R. Pinner, V.C.W. Tsang, and L. Conn; Executive Committee, D. Talan, G. Moran, C. Pollack, J. Jui, L. Slutsker, R. Pinner; Site Investigators, P. Cheney (University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM), W. Chiang (Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, NY); L. Dunbar (Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, LA), K. Heilpern (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA), J. Jui (Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR), D. Karras (Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA), G. Moran (Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, CA), C. Pollack (Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ), J. O’Brien (Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando, FL), J. Runge (Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC), and M. Steele (University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO).

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