Brief Report: Psychogenic Nonepileptic Events in Pediatric Patients with Autism or Intellectual Disability.

This study looked at 15 children with autism or intellectual disability who had episodes that looked like seizures but weren't caused by epilepsy (called PNEE). Most children (10 out of 11 who could be followed up) got better or stopped having these episodes after treatment. This shows that children with autism or intellectual disability can develop these events but can improve with proper care.

This retrospective case series examined 15 pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID) who developed psychogenic nonepileptic events (PNEE). The cohort included 9 patients with ASD and 6 with ID, with 40% being male and 53% having comorbid epilepsy - rates that differed from the broader PNEE population. At 12-month telephone follow-up, 11 patients were available for assessment, with 10 showing improvement or becoming event-free. The study demonstrates that children with ASD or ID can develop PNEE and respond positively to treatment interventions.

Clinicians should consider PNEE in differential diagnosis for seizure-like events in children with ASD or ID. The favorable outcomes suggest these patients can benefit from appropriate PNEE interventions, though the higher rate of comorbid epilepsy may complicate diagnosis and management.

Small sample size of 15 patients limits generalizability. Retrospective design and high loss to follow-up (4 patients unavailable). No control group or comparison with treatment outcomes in typical PNEE populations. Limited description of specific interventions used.

This is a retrospective case series of pediatric patients referred to the psychogenic nonepileptic events clinic (PNEE) who had comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID). We describe 15 patients, nine with ASD and six with ID who had a telephone visit follow-up at 12 months. There were higher rates of male gender (40%) and comorbid epilepsy (53%) compared to the larger PNEE cohort. Eleven patients were available for follow-up and ten patients had improvement in events or were event-free.

We report that patients with ASD or ID can develop PNEE and experience improvement from events.