The purpose of this study was to identify early predictors of seizure remission in occipital lobe epilepsy irrespective of syndrome classification i.e. idiopathic or symptomatic occipital lobe epilepsy. Forty-three children with occipital lobe epilepsy had taken part in an earlier study of seizure semiology, neurological deficits, psychomotor/cognitive status, electroencephalography (EEG) and neuroimaging. On the basis of the results of a questionnaire on the state of their epilepsy in 2000, two groups were composed. One group (n=17) consisted of the children with a complete seizure remission of 5 years or more, and the other (n=26) comprised children whose last seizure occurred less than 5 years ago. Our findings indicate that neurological deficit and EEG characteristics can predict 5 year outcome of occipital lobe epilepsy. Neuroradiological abnormality, psychomotor/cognitive status and seizure semiology appear to be of more limited value.