Among patients with epilepsy, mortality rates are the highest among those with refractory disease.6 The average incidence of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is 1 per 1,000 patients with epilepsy a year.6 However, in refractory epilepsy the incidence is 6 per 1,000 patients with epilepsy a year, and the lifetime incidence is 7–35%, with higher mortality rates associated with childhood-onset treatment-refractory epilepsy.6
References:
1.Tomson T. Mortality in epilepsy. J Neurol 2000; 247 (1): 15‒21.
2.Trinka E, Rainer LJ, Granbichler CA, et al. Mortality, and life expectancy in epilepsy and status epilepticus – current trends and future aspects. Front Epidemiol 2023; 3: 1081757.
3.Ngugi AK, Bottomley C, Fegan G, et al. Premature mortality in active convulsive epilepsy in rural Kenya: causes and associated factors. Neurology 2014; 82 (7): 582‒589.
4.Watila MM, Balarabe SA, Ojo O, et al. Overall and cause-specific premature mortality in epilepsy: A systematic review. Epilepsy Behav 2018; 87: 213‒225.
5.Levira F, Thurman DJ, Sander JW, et al. Premature mortality of epilepsy in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review from the Mortality Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy. Epilepsia 2017; 58 (1): 6–16.
6.Laxer KD, Trinka E, Hirsch LJ, et al. The consequences of refractory epilepsy and its treatment. Epilepsy Behav 2014; 37: 59–70.
