[Research] New research: chance of developing epilepsy is higher than previously thought

[Endless]

Did you see this news article?

Epilepsy Found to Be More Common in U.S. Than Thought

Over the years, the lifetime risk increased from 3.5 percent in the 1960-1969 time frame to 4.2 percent for 1970 to 1979, the researchers found.

The study in the Journal Neurology says:

Conclusions: One in 26 people will develop epilepsy during their lifetime. Lifetime risk provides an estimate of an individual's risk for epilepsy over his or her remaining lifetime, translates into the number of people who are expected to develop epilepsy, and assists health care planners as they estimate service needs for epilepsy.

The data we've been given in the past says about 1% of the population will develop epilepsy. So this 4% number is a big surprise to me. The mayo clinic did the research, which gives some extra credibility to the results, IMHO.

[epileric]

Good Catch! I love articles that cite their studies.

[Nakamova]

I wonder what they attribute the increase to? Is it that we have longer lives, or something environmental or nutritional? Maybe it's due to global warming...

[epileric]

I don't think there was an increase in E as much as a way of re-interpreting the same data

From the abstract:

Objectives: Previous studies that have assessed the risk of developing epilepsy have failed to account for the competing risk of death, significant in the elderly where epilepsy incidence is highest. We report the lifetime risk for epilepsy, accounting for the competing risk of mortality.

http://www.neurology.org/content/76/1/23.abstract

[Nakamova]

Thanks Eric... I guess I should have actually read the article.

I don't like that phrase "competing risk of death." Sounds a bit odd...

[epileric]

LOL, I guess that phrase does sound rather odd now that you mention it.

Even having read the article it was very vague as to how they arrived at this conclusion. It was only from reading the abstract of the study did I get the impression that it's a re-interpretation of data.

That really shows why I don't trust media so much when reporting on medical studies & try to look up the study itself if possible

[stephk]

Great Article (as was the one that followed!) very very interesting!

[Endless]

eric is right. it's a rehash because we don't have good new data. that doesn't make it any less valid, though. better data through better statistical methods. it's still a more accurate number than we had before

one of the articles listed about lack of funding addresses the need for more research to get more current data
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...ource=r_health

Autism now gets $211M from the NIH for research and epilepsy gets around $91M. Why, when 1 in 24 people have epilepsy, and 1 in 140 people have autism? Epilepsy is six times more common than autism, and epilepsy gets less than half as much research money. Life ain't fair. We have to get better organized.

I thought this was kind of an interesting article on research priorities for epilepsy:
http://www.cureepilepsy.org/news/where_we_are.asp

[Elsie]

Don't you think returning vets with their head traumas, concusions from nearby explosions might increase the numbers some? Always wondered if they are keeping any statistics on that and the numbers of soldiers who develop epilepsy down the road. Maybe too soon for those numbers..