A personalized approach to the diagnosis of epilepsy in obese children

Introduction. Epilepsy is one of the important problems of modern neurology. Various epileptic syndromes can be combined with other diseases, in particular, with obesity. Currently, various aspects of the etiopathogenesis of epileptic seizures against the background of obesity are actively studied. The aim of the work is to develop an approach to personalized biochemical diagnostics of epilepsy in children based on potential changes in the profile of organic acids in urine. Materials and methods. The study included 22 patients aged 1 to 16 years (mean age 11.7 years): 16 patients with various epileptic syndromes against the background of obesity and 6 patients in the comparison group. HPLC-MS. Results carried out the study of the profile of 60 organic acids in urine. In the group of patients with epilepsy against the background of obesity, excess of the upper reference limit of a number of markers of the Krebs cycle (fumaric and 2-ketoglutaric acids), bacterial dysbiosis and lactic acid were detected. Also in the patient sample, in contrast to the comparison group, an increase in the level of mitochondrial dysfunction markers was found. Results. In the group of patients with epilepsy against the background of obesity, the upper reference limit of a number of markers of the Krebs cycle (fumaric and 2-ketoglutaric acids), bacterial dysbiosis and lactic acid were exceeded. Also in the sample of patients, in contrast to the comparison group, an increase in the level of markers of mitochondrial dysfunction was found. Conclusion. Thus, we identified changes in a number of metabolic markers associated with epilepsy in children against the background of obesity.