Electroencephalogram Abnormalities in Very Young Children with Acute Hepatitis A Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study

There is a shortage on studies concerned with electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in neurologically asymptomatic children with acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection. In the present study, we evaluated EEG patterns in HAV infected children who had no symptoms of overt or minimal hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Forty-five children infected with HAV infection along with 45 healthy children were studied. EEG was acquired in resting condition with closed eyes. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS V. 19 software. Abnormal EEG patterns were recorded in 16 (35.6%) children with HAV infection while no subject showed EEG abnormality in healthy subjects (P = 0.02). Irregular spike along with alpha wave was the most frequent pattern (13 out of 16, 81.2%). One patient (6.3%) showed delta wave, and two patients (12.5%) represented tri-phasic wave. The mean age of the patients with irregular EEG was significantly higher (89.6 ± 35.2 months) than patients with normal EEG (60.7 ± 36.2 months, P = 0.01). Although a considerable number of patients with abnormal EEG had abnormally high AST (15/16), and ALT (14/16) levels, the means of neither AST nor ALT were significantly different when comparing patients with normal (535.9 ± 571.8 and 660.1 ± 649.8 IU/L, respectively) and abnormal (666.4 ± 834.7 and 982.1 ± 1230.7 IU/L, respectively) EEG patterns. Abnormal EEG is a relatively common finding in children with acute HAV infection representing no signs of HE. Higher age and elevated hepatic enzymes levels may predict abnormal EEG patterns in these patients.