prognosis

Last edited 08/2023 and last reviewed 08/2023

After the first seizure, for two years from then onwards, about 60 percent of the untreated persons will have no further seizures.(1)

Remissions (being free of seizures for 5 years, on or off treatment) will occur in about 70% of the patients with epilepsy.(1)

  • the rest of the 20-30% of people will develop chronic epilepsy, which is usually treated with Anti-epileptics (1)

People with epilepsy (PWE) have a higher mortality rate than the general population (2)

In a UK based study (2) number of deaths within the database increased by 69% between the first and last year of the study (2014 compared with 2004)

  • epilepsy was considered as a contributing cause in approximately 45% of deaths of PWE under 35
  • factors associated with increased risk of death included
    • attendance at emergency departments and/or emergency admissions
    • antiepileptic drug (AED) polytherapy
    • status epilepticus
    • depression
    • and injuries
  • no seizures in the prior year was associated with a reduced risk of death

UK Biobank study (n=329,432; 2699 with epilepsy) found pts with epilepsy had an increased risk of all cardiac arrhythmias (HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.21-1.53), atrial fibrillation (AF) (1.26) & other cardiac arrhythmias (1.56) especially in those using carbamazepine and valproic acid vs pts without epilepsy (3)

Reference:

Related pages:

epilepsy and osteoporosis