Volume 8, Number 6—June 2002
Research
Neurocysticercosis in Radiographically Imaged Seizure Patients in U.S. Emergency Departments1
, 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
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.
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).