The objective of the work was to classify epileptic seizures, epilepsy and epileptic syndromes according to the International classification of epileptic seizures (ICES, 1981) and the International classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes (ICE, 1989) in a defined group of children and to assess the incidence of different types of seizures and epilepsies. Retrospectively the authors evaluated a group of 529 children hospitalized at the Neurological Department of the Faculty Hospital and Policlinic in Bratislava between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 1998, aged 1 month to 18 years with at least two non-provoked seizures. It was revealed that partial seizures (312 children – 58.9 %) were significantly more frequent than generalized ones (192 children – 36.3 %). Most frequent partial seizures were those with secondary generalization (130 – 24.6 %) and complex partial seizures (116 – 21.9 %) most frequently at the age of 3 – 10 years. Simple partial seizures were most frequent at the age of 6 – 10 years. The most frequent generalized seizures were infantile spasms in infants under one year (30 %) and generalized tonic-clonic seizures (13.5 %) at the age of 11–18 years. Astatic seizures were most frequent at the age of 1–2 years (7.3 %) and absences at school age (8.3 %). The authors found that simple partial seizures are usually idiopathic, secondarily generalized ones are symptomatic, complex ones are mostly cryp- togenic. Absences, myoclonic seizures and clonic tonic seizures are idiopathic, infantile spasms, atypical absences and atonic/astatic seizures are symptomatic. 312 (58,9 %) epilepsies were partial. Idiopathic benign partial epilepsies were found in 9 %, symptomatic ones in 32.9 % and cryptogenic ones in 16.1 %. Of 192 generalized epilepsies 93 (17.5 %) were idiopathic age-related and 99 (18.7 %) symptomatic or cryptogenic. The most frequent forms of idiopathic epilepsies were absences (3.9 %) and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (3.6 %). The most frequent form of symptomatic generalized epilepsies was West’s syndrome (8.5 %) and epilepsy with myoclonic-astatic seizures (4.3 %). Based on ICES and ICE the authors were able to classify 95 % of epileptic seizures and in 95 % children were classified as a certain form of epilepsy or syndrome. The syndromological diagnosis of epilepsy should be the objective of any diagnostic process, using criteria of international classification.

        Key words: epilepsy, epileptic seizures, epileptic syndromes, classification, children.