21st June 2023

Risk factors

The risk factors for developing NES are:

• Female – 75% of patients with NES are women
• Trauma or acute stress, such as the loss of a loved one, bullying, a history of abuse, or adverse experiences in childhood or adolescence, etc.
• Family history of epilepsy or psychiatric diagnoses
• Comorbid disorders:
  • Another functional disorder – a history of previous medically unexplained symptoms is present in 80% of patients
  • Epilepsy – 10-30% of those with non-epileptic seizures also have epilepsy.
  • Head injury
  • Sleep disorders
  • Cognitive problems
  • Migraine
  • Asthma
  • Depression – the most common psychiatric comorbidity in children and adolescents
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Personality disorder