Non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is characterized by episodes of altered consciousness of variable length and intensity that are directely related to continuous or recurrent epileptic activity. Non-specific precipitating factors for absence status (AS) in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) patients are similar to those found in other seizure types: withdrawal or impaired compliance of appropriate antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), alcohol, stress, grief, fatigue, sleep deprivation, and disturbances of the sleep-wake cycle. Episodes of complex partial status epilepticus (CPSE) are rare in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, perhaps because chronic AED treatment, despite its limitations to control all seizures in this syndrome, prevents the evolution into status epilepticus. In a retrospective assessment of acute morbidity and mortality in NCSE, mortality rates were much higher in patients with an acute medical etiology (27%) compared to the epilepsy (3%) and the cryptogenic (18%) groups.