ObjectiveTo investigate the etiology of patients with convulsive status epilepticus (CSE).MethodsBy taking epilepsy, seizure, status epilepticus, and epileptic seizure as keywords, the clinical data of epilepsy patients hospitalized in the First People’s Hospital of Longquanyi District of Chengdu and the People’s Hospital of Leshan from January, 2012 to December, 2017 were retrospectively collected from a retrieval system for electronic patient records. The collected CSE cases were screened by trained epilepsy specialists in strict accordance with inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The etiology of CSE, and the pathogenetic distinctions among patients with different ages, sexes, educational levels, places of residence, and histories of epilepsy were analyzed based on medical histories and accessory examinations. The prognostic factors for epilepsy were determined using logistic regression analysis.ResultsIn this study, a total of 852 hospitalized epilepsy cases were retrieved, among which 104 cases were CSE cases aged between 18 and 86, including 75 males and 29 females. There were 13 CSE deaths (12.5%). There were significant differences in the pathogeneses among CSE patients with different ages and histories of epilepsy (χ2=52.396, 18.354; P<0.05). However, no significant difference in CSE pathogeneses was observed among patients with different sexes, educational levels, or places of residence (P>0.05). Drug withdrawal or dose reduction was the leading cause of CSE in patients with a history of epilepsy (n=28, 57.1%), while cerebrovascular diseases (n=19, 34.5%) were common causes among those without a history. Among patients aged over 65, cerebrovascular diseases (n=17, 43.6%) were determined as the major causes of CSE, while for those aged under 65, drug withdrawal or dose reduction was the main pathogeny (n=20, 30.8%). Results obtained from multivariate logistic regression analysis on the prognostic factors for epilepsy showed that the duration of epileptic seizure significantly influenced the prognosis of patients [odds ratio=1.299, 95% confidence interval (1.074, 1.571), P=0.007], while there were no significant correlations between other factors and epilepsy prognosis (P>0.05).ConclusionsCerebrovascular diseases are the leading causes of geriatric CSE. Irregular medication of epilepsy patients is a prominent avoidable trigger for CSE.