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Journal ArticleDOI

Epilepsy across the spectrum: promoting health and understanding. A summary of the Institute of Medicine report.

01 Oct 2012-Epilepsy & Behavior (NIH Public Access)-Vol. 25, Iss: 2, pp 266-276
TL;DR: The report's recommendations range from the expansion of collaborative epilepsy surveillance efforts to the independent accreditation of epilepsy centers, to the coordination of public awareness efforts, and to the engagement of people with epilepsy and their families in education, dissemination, and advocacy activities.
About: This article is published in Epilepsy & Behavior.The article was published on 2012-10-01 and is currently open access. It has received 562 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Health care & Public health.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study provides Class IV evidence that for adults with medically refractory partial onset seizures, responsive direct cortical stimulation reduces seizures and improves quality of life over a mean follow-up of 5.4 years.
Abstract: Objective: The long-term efficacy and safety of responsive direct neurostimulation was assessed in adults with medically refractory partial onset seizures. Methods: All participants were treated with a cranially implanted responsive neurostimulator that delivers stimulation to 1 or 2 seizure foci via chronically implanted electrodes when specific electrocorticographic patterns are detected (RNS System). Participants had completed a 2-year primarily open-label safety study (n = 65) or a 2-year randomized blinded controlled safety and efficacy study (n = 191); 230 participants transitioned into an ongoing 7-year study to assess safety and efficacy. Results: The average participant was 34 (±11.4) years old with epilepsy for 19.6 (±11.4) years. The median preimplant frequency of disabling partial or generalized tonic-clonic seizures was 10.2 seizures a month. The median percent seizure reduction in the randomized blinded controlled trial was 44% at 1 year and 53% at 2 years ( p p Conclusions: The RNS System is the first direct brain responsive neurostimulator. Acute and sustained efficacy and safety were demonstrated in adults with medically refractory partial onset seizures arising from 1 or 2 foci over a mean follow-up of 5.4 years. This experience supports the RNS System as a treatment option for refractory partial seizures. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that for adults with medically refractory partial onset seizures, responsive direct cortical stimulation reduces seizures and improves quality of life over a mean follow-up of 5.4 years.

471 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Preliminary evidence suggests that some conditions, such as depression and migraine, negatively affect seizure outcome and quality of life and could play an important part in stratification for genetic studies.
Abstract: The burden of comorbidity in people with epilepsy is high. Several diseases, including depression, anxiety, dementia, migraine, heart disease, peptic ulcers, and arthritis are up to eight times more common in people with epilepsy than in the general population. Several mechanisms explain how epilepsy and comorbidities are associated, including shared risk factors and bidirectional relations. There is a pressing need for new and validated screening instruments and guidelines to help with the early detection and treatment of comorbid conditions. Preliminary evidence suggests that some conditions, such as depression and migraine, negatively affect seizure outcome and quality of life. Further investigation is needed to explore these relations and the effects of targeted interventions. Future advances in the investigation of the comorbidities of epilepsy will strengthen our understanding of epilepsy and could play an important part in stratification for genetic studies.

409 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This survey will examine the recent works on stress detection in daily life which are using smartphones and wearable devices and investigate the works according to used physiological modality and their targeted environment such as office, campus, car and unrestricted daily life conditions.

255 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that educational interventions and public health campaigns targeting medication adherence, psychiatric comorbidity, and other modifiable risk factors may reduce epilepsy-related mortality.
Abstract: Epilepsy is associated with a high rate of premature mortality from direct and indirect effects of seizures, epilepsy, and antiseizure therapies. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the second leading neurologic cause of total lost potential life-years after stroke, yet SUDEP may account for less than half of all epilepsy-related deaths. Some epilepsy groups are especially vulnerable: individuals from low socioeconomic status groups and those with comorbid psychiatric illness die more often than controls. Despite clear evidence of an important public health problem, efforts to assess and prevent epilepsy-related deaths remain inadequate. We discuss factors contributing to the underestimation of SUDEP and other epilepsy-related causes of death. We suggest the need for a systematic classification of deaths directly due to epilepsy (e.g., SUDEP, drowning), due to acute symptomatic seizures, and indirectly due to epilepsy (e.g., suicide, chronic effects of antiseizure medications). Accurately estimating the frequency of epilepsy-related mortality is essential to support the development and assessment of preventive interventions. We propose that educational interventions and public health campaigns targeting medication adherence, psychiatric comorbidity, and other modifiable risk factors may reduce epilepsy-related mortality. Educational campaigns regarding sudden infant death syndrome and fires, which kill far fewer Americans than epilepsy, have been widely implemented. We have done too little to prevent epilepsy-related deaths. Everyone with epilepsy and everyone who treats people with epilepsy need to know that controlling seizures will save lives.

198 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Clinicians should advise that immediate treatment will not improve the long-term prognosis for seizure remission but will reduce seizure risk over the subsequent 2 years, and patients should be advised that risk of AED adverse events (AEs) may range from 7% to 31% and that these AEs are likely predominantly mild and reversible.
Abstract: Objective: To provide evidence-based recommendations for treatment of adults with an unprovoked first seizure. Methods: We defined relevant questions and systematically reviewed published studies according to the American Academy of Neurology9s classification of evidence criteria; we based recommendations on evidence level. Results and recommendations: Adults with an unprovoked first seizure should be informed that their seizure recurrence risk is greatest early within the first 2 years (21%–45%) (Level A), and clinical variables associated with increased risk may include a prior brain insult (Level A), an EEG with epileptiform abnormalities (Level A), a significant brain-imaging abnormality (Level B), and a nocturnal seizure (Level B). Immediate antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy, as compared with delay of treatment pending a second seizure, is likely to reduce recurrence risk within the first 2 years (Level B) but may not improve quality of life (Level C). Over a longer term (>3 years), immediate AED treatment is unlikely to improve prognosis as measured by sustained seizure remission (Level B). Patients should be advised that risk of AED adverse events (AEs) may range from 7% to 31% (Level B) and that these AEs are likely predominantly mild and reversible. Clinicians9 recommendations whether to initiate immediate AED treatment after a first seizure should be based on individualized assessments that weigh the risk of recurrence against the AEs of AED therapy, consider educated patient preferences, and advise that immediate treatment will not improve the long-term prognosis for seizure remission but will reduce seizure risk over the subsequent 2 years.

197 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Patients who have many seizures before therapy or who have an inadequate response to initial treatment with antiepileptic drugs are likely to have refractory epilepsy.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: More than 30 percent of patients with epilepsy have inadequate control of seizures with drug therapy, but why this happens and whether it can be predicted are unknown. We studied the response to antiepileptic drugs in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy to identify factors associated with subsequent poor control of seizures. METHODS: We prospectively studied 525 patients (age, 9 to 93 years) who were given a diagnosis, treated, and followed up at a single center between 1984 and 1997. Epilepsy was classified as idiopathic (with a presumed genetic basis), symptomatic (resulting from a structural abnormality), or cryptogenic (resulting from an unknown underlying cause). Patients were considered to be seizure-free if they had not had any seizures for at least one year. RESULTS: Among the 525 patients, 333 (63 percent) remained seizure-free during antiepileptic-drug treatment or after treatment was stopped. The prevalence of persistent seizures was higher in patients with symptomatic or cryptogenic epilepsy than in those with idiopathic epilepsy (40 percent vs. 26 percent, P=0.004) and in patients who had had more than 20 seizures before starting treatment than in those who had had fewer (51 percent vs. 29 percent, P<0.001). The seizure-free rate was similar in patients who were treated with a single established drug (67 percent) and patients who were treated with a single new drug (69 percent). Among 470 previously untreated patients, 222 (47 percent) became seizure-free during treatment with their first antiepileptic drug and 67 (14 percent) became seizure-free during treatment with a second or third drug. In 12 patients (3 percent) epilepsy was controlled by treatment with two drugs. Among patients who had no response to the first drug, the percentage who subsequently became seizure-free was smaller (11 percent) when treatment failure was due to lack of efficacy than when it was due to intolerable side effects (41 percent) or an idiosyncratic reaction (55 percent). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have many seizures before therapy or who have an inadequate response to initial treatment with antiepileptic drugs are likely to have refractory epilepsy.

4,326 citations


"Epilepsy across the spectrum: promo..." refers background in this paper

  • ...While seizures are well controlled with medications and other treatment options for the majority of people with epilepsy [6], the impact of epilepsy goes well beyond the seizures....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Commission on Classification and Terminology has revised concepts, terminology, and approaches for classifying seizures and forms of epilepsy.
Abstract: The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Commission on Classification and Terminology has revised concepts, terminology, and approaches for classifying seizures and forms of epilepsy. Generalized and focal are redefined for seizures as occurring in and rapidly engaging bilaterally distributed networks (generalized) and within networks limited to one hemisphere and either discretely localized or more widely distributed (focal). Classification of generalized seizures is simplified. No natural classification for focal seizures exists; focal seizures should be described according to their manifestations (e. g., dyscognitive, focal motor). The concepts of generalized and focal do not apply to electroclinical syndromes. Genetic, structural-metabolic, and unknown represent modified concepts to replace idiopathic, symptomatic, and cryptogenic. Not all epilepsies are recognized as electroclinical syndromes. Organization of forms of epilepsy is first by specificity: electroclinical syndromes, nonsyndromic epilepsies with structural-metabolic causes, and epilepsies of unknown cause. Further organization within these divisions can be accomplished in a flexible manner depending on purpose. Natural classes (e. g., specific underlying cause, age at onset, associated seizure type), or pragmatic groupings (e. g., epileptic encephalopathies, self-limited electroclinical syndromes) may serve as the basis for organizing knowledge about recognized forms of epilepsy and facilitate identification of new forms.

3,775 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Age‐and gender‐specific incidence trends were similar to those of epilepsy, but a higher proportion of cases was of unknown etiology and was characterized by generalized onset seizures.
Abstract: The incidence of epilepsy and of all unprovoked seizures was determined for residents of Rochester, Minnesota U.S.A. from 1935 through 1984. Age-adjusted incidence of epilepsy was 44 per 100,000 person-years. Incidence in males was significantly higher than in females and was high in the first year of life but highest in persons aged > or = 75 years. Sixty percent of new cases had epilepsy manifested by partial seizures, and two thirds had no clearly identified antecedent. Cerebrovascular disease was the most commonly identified antecedent, accounting for 11% of cases. Neurologic deficits from birth, mental retardation and/or cerebral palsy, observed in 8% of cases, was the next most frequently identified preexisting condition. The cumulative incidence of epilepsy through age 74 years was 3.1%. The age-adjusted incidence of all unprovoked seizures was 61 per 100,000 person-years. Age- and gender-specific incidence trends were similar to those of epilepsy, but a higher proportion of cases was of unknown etiology and was characterized by generalized onset seizures. The cumulative incidence of all unprovoked seizures was 4.1% through age 74 years. With time, the incidence of epilepsy and of unprovoked seizures decreased in children and increased in the elderly.

1,866 citations


"Epilepsy across the spectrum: promo..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The Rochester study released by Hauser [9,10] remains the current reference for the prevalence, incidence and etiology of epilepsy in the United States....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research presents a novel and scalable approach called “informed consent” that aims to provide real-time information about the pros and cons of surgery on the basis of prior history and once-in-a-lifetime data.
Abstract: *Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China; yInstitute for Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy-IDEE, University Hospital of Lyon (HCL) and Inserm U821, Lyon, France; zDepartment of Biology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, U.S.A.; xEpilepsy Unit, Western Infirmary, Glasgow, United Kingdom;{GH Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A.; #Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.; **The Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, U.S.A.; yyClinical Trial Center, Institute of Neurology IRCCS C. Mondino Foundation, and Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; zzDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and xxNYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, New York, New York, U.S.A.

1,639 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...[8] regarding the definition of treatment-resistant epilepsy....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using the best available data, a survey of a limited number of disorders shows that the burden of neurologic illness affects many millions of people in the United States.
Abstract: Objective To estimate the current incidence and prevalence in the United States of 12 neurologic disorders. Methods We summarize the strongest evidence available, using data from the United States or from other developed countries when US data were insufficient. Results For some disorders, prevalence is a better descriptor of impact; for others, incidence is preferable. Per 1,000 children, estimated prevalence was 5.8 for autism spectrum disorder and 2.4 for cerebral palsy; for Tourette syndrome, the data were insufficient. In the general population, per 1,000, the 1-year prevalence for migraine was 121, 7.1 for epilepsy, and 0.9 for multiple sclerosis. Among the elderly, the prevalence of Alzheimer disease was 67 and that of Parkinson disease was 9.5. For diseases best described by annual incidence per 100,000, the rate for stroke was 183, 101 for major traumatic brain injury, 4.5 for spinal cord injury, and 1.6 for ALS. Conclusions Using the best available data, our survey of a limited number of disorders shows that the burden of neurologic illness affects many millions of people in the United States.

1,262 citations

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