Somatic comorbidity in people with epilepsy

A cross-sectional population-based study evaluated the prevalence of comorbidities in 5,834 people with epilepsy registered with primary care physicians compared with >1 million people without epilepsy.³ Whilst the rate ratio (RR) of cancer in general was not higher among people with epilepsy compared with the general population (RR: 1.05; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.89, 1.25), people with epilepsy were found to be 55 times more likely to have brain tumours than the general population, and 31 times more likely to have meningeal tumours than the general population.³ The rate of brain tumours was particularly increased in young adults (RR: 70.7; 95% CI: 47.7, 104.8), and the rate of meningiomas was particularly increased in older adults (RR: 91.9; 95% CI: 16.7, 505.5).³

References:

1.Keezer MR, Sisodiya SM, Sander JW. Comorbidities of epilepsy: current concepts and future perspectives. Lancet Neurol 2016; 15 (1): 106–115.

2.Téllez-Zenteno JF, Matijevic S, Wiebe S. Somatic comorbidity of epilepsy in the general population in Canada. Epilepsia 2005; 46 (12): 1955–1962.

3.Gaitatzis A, Carroll K, Majeed A, Sander JW. The epidemiology of the comorbidity of epilepsy in the general population. Epilepsia 2004; 45 (12): 1613–1622.