INHERITANCE OF CEREBRAL DYSRHYTHMIA AND EPILEPSY

Abstract

Ever since Hippocrates expressed the opinion that epilepsy is a familial disease the inheritance of epilepsy has been a subject for debate. The principal evidence has been gathered from the family histories of persons subject to seizures. The most comprehensive data from extramural patients have been furnished by members of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases and the American Neurological Association. The family histories of 2,130 patients have been tabulated by one of us (W.G.L.) and will be presented in detail later. The incidence of seizures among the 13,262 near relatives (parents, siblings and children) of patients in this group is 2.4 per cent. This is approximately five times the incidence of seizures in the general population. However, only 1 in 5 of these patients gives a history of any blood relative affected with seizures. The combined data of Rosanoff, Handy and Rosanoff¹ and of Conrad