Burden epilepsy

INTRODUCTION: Epilepsy is frequent in children and often requires complex healthcare interventions. There is a paucity of recent and detailed healthcare expenditures among children with epilepsy in the United States (US). METHODS: Data on children (aged ≤17years) from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Household Component (MEPS-HC) from 2003 to 2014 were analyzed. Unadjusted overall and specific cost components were compared between children with epilepsy and those without epilepsy...

Approximately 3 million American adults reported active epilepsy* in 2015 (1). Active epilepsy, especially when seizures are uncontrolled, poses substantial burdens because of somatic, neurologic, and mental health comorbidity; cognitive and physical dysfunction; side effects of antiseizure medications; higher injury and mortality rates; poorer quality of life; and increased financial cost (2). Thus, prompt diagnosis and seizure control (i.e., seizure-free in the 12 months preceding the survey) confers numerous clinical and social advantages to persons with active epilepsy...

The automatic identification of epileptic electroencephalogram (EEG) signals can give assistance to doctors in diagnosis of epilepsy, and provide the higher security and quality of life for people with epilepsy. Feature extraction of EEG signals determines the performance of the whole recognition system. In this paper, a novel method using the local binary pattern (LBP) based on the wavelet transform (WT) is proposed to characterize the behavior of EEG activities. First, the WT is employed for time-frequency decomposition of EEG signals...

PURPOSE: Information about existing healthcare resources for the management of seizures in developing countries is lacking. These countries are often poorly equipped to deal with the immense burden of costs, mortality, stigma, seizure-related disability, and comorbidities presented by seizure disorders. This study aimed to contribute to the goals of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) by investigating the resources available for patients with seizure in Namibia. METHODS: Two separate surveys on the diagnostic and treatment practices for epileptic seizures (ES) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) were administered to private healthcare practitioners (HCPs) in Namibia...

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a medically refractory epilepsy that onsets in the first year of life with prolonged seizures, often triggered by fever. Over time, patients develop other seizure types (myoclonic, atypical absences, drops), intellectual disability, crouch gait and other co-morbidities (sleep problems, autonomic dysfunction). Complete seizure control is generally not achievable with current therapies, and the goals of treatment are to balance reduction of seizure burden with adverse effects of therapies...

Objective: To investigate the prevalence, risk factors, clinical features, and neurobehavioral comorbidities of epilepsy and acute symptomatic seizures in school-aged children in Kilifi, Kenya. Methods: Randomly selected children (N = 11,223) were screened for epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Those who screened positive were invited for further clinical, electroencephalographic (EEG), and neuropsychological evaluations. Prevalence was measured by dividing cases by screened population, providing Agresti-Coull confidence intervals (CIs)...

Objective: To understand the current burden of focal epilepsy (FE) as a function of seizure frequency. Methods: Patients were identified from the United States (2011, 2012, and 2013), five European countries (EU; France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) (2011 and 2013), and Brazil (2011 and 2012) National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), a nationally representative, Internet-based survey of adults (18+ years). The NHWS collected data on respondents' quality of life (QoL), health utilities, productivity loss, and healthcare resource utilization...

Objective: To determine the prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy (ACE) and describe the clinical characteristics and associated factors among a rural Ugandan population. Methods: The entire population in Iganga/Mayuge Health Demographic Surveillance Site (IM-HDSS) was screened using two questions about seizures during a door-to-door census exercise. Those who screened positive were assessed by a clinician to confirm diagnosis of epilepsy. A case control study with the patients diagnosed with ACE as the cases and age/sex-matched controls in a ratio of 1:1 was conducted...

This article points out that defeating epilepsy is a global public health commitment and a new challenge. This is because: epilepsy causes a heavy burden and very high treatment gap; in the field of life sciences and medicine, the 21st century would be the "Century of Brain Science"; a number of national brain research initiatives provide a great opportunity to reveal the secret of epilepsy; the Global Campaign against Epilepsy and the Mental Health Gap Action Programme made great contributions in the epilepsy control work worldwide; the historical WHA68...

A high prevalence of epilepsy is reported in many onchocerciasis-endemic regions. In this paper we discuss recent epidemiological and clinical aspects as well as public health implications of onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) and propose a strategy to reduce the burden of disease. OAE probably presents in a variety of clinical manifestations, including the nodding syndrome and the Nakalanga syndrome. The most common clinical presentation, however, is generalized (primarily tonic-clonic) seizures. A characteristic of OAE is the onset of seizures between the ages of 3 and 18 years and clustering in certain families and villages close to rapid-flowing black-fly-infested rivers...

BACKGROUND: An estimated 25 million people are currently infected with onchocerciasis (a parasitic infection caused by the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus and transmitted by Simulium vectors), and 99% of these are in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control closed in December 2015 and the World Health Organization has established a new structure, the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases for the coordination of technical support for activities focused on five neglected tropical diseases in Africa, including onchocerciasis elimination...

BACKGROUND: Recently, several epidemiological studies performed in Onchocerca volvulus-endemic regions have suggested that onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) may constitute an important but neglected public health problem in many countries where onchocerciasis is still endemic. MAIN TEXT: On October 12-14th 2017, the first international workshop on onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) was held in Antwerp, Belgium. The workshop was attended by 79 participants from 20 different countries...

BACKGROUND: Seizures in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) tend to be intractable over time and become a subsequent psychological burden for the patients. The purpose of the current study was to describe the onset, phenotype, and factors associated with seizure remission in patients with TSC. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with TSC between 2009 and 2015 completed a questionnaire interview and underwent a systematic evaluation, including a medical review of their epilepsy history and neurobehavioral disorder assessment...

BACKGROUND: The zoonotic parasite Taenia solium is endemic in Angónia district, Tete province, Mozambique, though the burden of the disease complex is unknown. METHODS: As part of two cross-sectional studies on human and porcine cysticercosis in the area, unique epidemiological and cost data were collected in Angónia district, Mozambique in 2007. These data provided the basis for the assessment of the societal cost of T. solium in the district, which estimates the impact of the disease on human and pig populations and includes both health and economic approaches in the analysis...

PURPOSE: Refractory epilepsies in children present a major burden for patients and their families. Cannabidiol (CBD) has been suggested as a potential treatment for refractory epilepsies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of add-on therapy with CBD for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsies. METHOD: Patients with childhood-onset refractory epilepsy, treated at the tertiary epilepsy center of the University Children's Hospital Ljubljana, Slovenia, were included in the study...

Empirical knowledge suggests that acute neurologic disorders are common in sub-Saharan Africa, but studies examining the true burden of these diseases in children are scarce. We performed this prospective, observational study to evaluate the prevalence, clinical characteristics, treatment approaches, and outcomes of children suffering acute neurologic illness or injury (ANI) in an urban and rural site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over 12 months, 471 out of 6,563 children admitted met diagnostic criteria for ANI, giving a hospital-based prevalence of 72/1,000 admissions...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease that represents a tremendous burden on both patients and society in general. Studies have addressed how demographic variables, socioeconomic variables, and psychological comorbidity are related to the quality of life (QOL) of people with epilepsy (PWE). However, there has been less focus on how these factors may differ between patients who exhibit varying degrees of seizure control. This study utilized data from the Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) Network of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the aim of elucidating differences in demographic variables, depression, and QOL between adult PWE...

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the major cause of death in those patients suffering from refractory epilepsy (RE), with a 24-fold higher risk relative to the normal population. SUDEP risk increases with seizure frequency and/or seizure-duration as in RE and Status Epilepticus (SE). P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the product of the multidrug resistant ABCB1-MDR-1 gene, is a detoxifying pump that extrudes drugs out of the cells and can confer pharmacoresistance to the expressing cells. Neurons and cardiomyocytes normally do not express P-gp, however, it is overexpressed in the brain of patients or in experimental models of RE and SE...

BACKGROUND: Few studies are focused on the quality of life (QOL) of primary caregivers and the effects of the clinical variables of epilepsy and patient psychiatric comorbidity on primary caregivers. PURPOSE: Our main objective was to describe QOL and level of burden (LB) in caregivers of people with epilepsy (PWE) at a tertiary-care hospital in Mexico City. A secondary purpose was to determine if LB and QOL were different between caregivers of patients with neuropsychiatric comorbidity and caregivers of patients without neuropsychiatric comorbidity...

Epilepsy is a global disease with an unequal distribution. About 80% of the affected individuals reside in low and middle income countries. The incidence and prevalence of epilepsy in low income populations is higher than in the rest of the world, this is partly explained by some risk factors such as head trauma, perinatal injury and CNS infections, which are more common in poor regions, especially in rural areas. Epilepsy is considered a treatable condition with high rates of therapeutic response. About three fourths of patients achieve control of the disease with the use of antiepileptic drugs, however, despite this benign prognosis, over 75% of patients from low income populations do not receive treatment at all...