Blog #15: Epilepsy Is Most Common in the Elderly

(This blog was originally posted on December 14, 2011)

                       

            It is generally believed that epilepsy starts in childhood. This is not true. Epilepsy is most frequently diagnosed in the over-sixty-five age group. The incidence of epilepsy decreases in children over time while it increases in the elderly population; their brains are apt to be afflicted with strokes and other ailments (1, 2).

Strokes and arteriosclerosis, or “hardening of the arteries,” produce scars in the brain. These scars irritate brain cells; this irritation initiates seizures and epilepsy. Five to fifteen percent of stroke patients will experience a seizure within two years of their stroke (3). In my experience, an epilepsy diagnosis is common among nursing home populations. Additional causes of epilepsy in the elderly are brain tumors and brain trauma. Other maladies prone to occur in the aged, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, are not likely to cause epilepsy.

            Patients and their families need to recognize that what was once considered a childhood disorder is now common in the “grandparent” population group in all races and ethnicities. Increased life expectancy has led to this larger proportion of elderly people in developed countries.

 

 

1.      Sillanpaa, et al. Epilepsy Res. 2006; Oct: 71 (2-3): 206-15.

2.      Hauser, W.A., et al. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 1996; 71: 576-586.

3.      Herman, S. Neurology, 2011: 77: 1776-1777.

 

 

Lance Fogan, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. DINGS is his first novel.