Epilepsy – Epidemiology and burden

In 2019, WHO published a snapshot of the global epidemiology and burden of epilepsy.¹ Although epilepsy affects more than 50 million people worldwide, it was estimated that the majority reside in low- and middle-income countries.¹ It was anticipated that the burden of epi…

Under-recognition of epilepsy is an issue in low resource settings, with multiple factors involved.^2,5,6 From the healthcare system perspective, the diagnosis of epilepsy may be delayed or missed due to inadequate healthcare provider training, and a lack of diagnostic too…

This meta-analysis used data from >200 studies to estimate the incidence and prevalence of epilepsy.¹ There was a substantial difference between LMICs and HICs with respect to the incidence of epilepsy –139 and 49 per 100,000 person-years respectively, as shown on the gra…

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) collaborators undertook a systematic analysis of epidemiological data published between 2011 and 2016 to determine the global and country-level prevalence of epilepsy between 1990 and 2016.¹ As can be seen from the map, high prevalence o…

Reference:

1.Fiest KM, Sauro KM, Wiebe S, et al. Prevalence and incidence of epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of international studies. Neurology 2017; 88 (3): 296–303.

References:

1.Syvertsen M, Nakken KO, Edland A, et al. Prevalence and etiology of epilepsy in a Norwegian county – a population based study. Epilepsia 2015; 56 (5): 699–706.

2.Balestrini S, Arzimanoglou A, Blümcke I, et al. The aetiologies of epilepsy. Epileptic Disord 20…

Data for this analysis were provided by large population-based cross-sectional and case‒control studies conducted in regions within Kenya (2007‒2008), South Africa (2008‒2009), Uganda (2009), Tanzania (2009), and Ghana (2010‒2011).¹ Only cases of active, convulsive epilep…

Reference:

1.Balestrini S, Arzimanoglou A, Blümcke I, et al. The aetiologies of epilepsy. Epileptic Disord 2021; 23 (1): 1–16.

Reference:

1.Kwon C-S, Jacoby A, Ali A, et al. Systematic review of frequency of felt and enacted stigma in epilepsy and determining factors and attitudes towards persons living with epilepsy – report from the International League Against Epilepsy Task Force on Stigma in …

A cross-sectional German study including 476 people with epilepsy evaluated the determinants of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with epilepsy.¹ Study findings showed that factors predictive of a significantly reduced HRQoL in people with epilepsy incl…

A systematic review of epilepsy cost-of-illness studies was conducted, with adjustments made to generate single per-person and epilepsy-attributable total healthcare and indirect costs, and estimated costs for countries with missing data according to those of countries in…

The ILAE Commission on the Developing World has defined the epilepsy treatment gap as the difference between the number of people with epilepsy and those who actually receive antiseizure medication.¹ In a systematic review of 45 epidemiological studies, the estimated epil…

Reference:

1.Sultana B, Panzini M-A, Veilleux Carpentier A, et al. Incidence and prevalence of drug-resistant epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurology 2021; 96 (17): 805–817.

In the same meta-analysis, 83 studies were analyzed to determine specific factors associated with drug-resistant epilepsy.¹ With respect to polymorphisms in the ABC1 gene, C345T, C1234T, and G2677T were found to be statistically significant in multiple studies.¹

Reference…

Reference:

1.Devinsky O, Spruill T, Thurman D, Friedman D. Recognizing and preventing epilepsy-related mortality: A call for action. Neurology 2016; 86 (8): 779–786.

References:

1.Nashef L, So EL, Ryvlin P, Tomson T. Unifying the definitions of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Epilepsia 2012; 53 (2): 227–233.

2.Harden C, Tomson T, Gloss D, et al. Practice guideline summary: Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy incidence rates and r…

The American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society used two systematic searches of the literature: firstly for articles from the earliest available to November 2010, and this was repeated for articles published between November 2015 and April 2015 to info…

In a systematic review, three studies from LMICs were identified that showed SMRs were highest in the youngest age groups, with a marked decline after early adulthood.¹

Reference:

1.Levira F, Thurman DJ, Sander JW, et al. Premature mortality of epilepsy in low- and middle…

This study was conducted in the Kilifi region of Kenya that covers a population of more than 233,800 people.¹ At the first stage of the study a survey of the heads of households were asked 2 questions to identify potential family members with active convulsive epilepsy.¹ …

This systematic review assessed the SMR for people with epilepsy according to age category and time since diagnosis in HICs.¹ Although the SMRs were higher in all groups of people with epilepsy, the highest were observed for individuals aged younger than 45 years (6.4‒8.5…

References:

1.Harden C, Tomson T, Gloss D, et al. Practice guideline summary: Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy incidence rates and risk factors: Report of the Guideline Development, Dissemination, and Implementation Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and…