According to the findings of a multicentric cohort study, factors like febrile seizure, abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), structural etiology, seizure type, and epilepsy type can escalate the risk for drug-resistant epilepsy in adult patients. For identifying the risk factors, researchers sought to examine the characteristics of people suffering from drug-sensitive epilepsy vs. drug-resistant epilepsy. Volunteers aged more than 18 years and diagnosed with epilepsy were included.

Those with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and less than 2 years of follow-up were eliminated.

A total of 128 patients were included, 46 of whom exhibited drug-resistant epilepsy, and 82 of whom responded to treatment. Similar traits were noted in both groups. Significant risk factors for the neurological disease were found to be abnormal MRI (Odds ratio [OR]: 4.6), structural etiology (OR: 2.2), focal seizures with loss of consciousness (OR: 2.36), focal epilepsy (OR: 2.4), and febrile seizures (OR: 7.25).