In other words, people infected with COVID-19 are more likely to develop seizures or some form of epilepsy within 6 months of a COVID infection than an influenza infection. This increased risk is more marked in children than in adults and in patients who -curiously- have not been hospitalized.
A 50% higher risk of seizures following COVID-19 than following the flu
Although this risk of seizures or epilepsy remains very low at an incidence of less than 1% of all people with COVID-19, given the large number of cases, this might lead to a significant increase in the number of people developing seizures or epilepsy, says lead author Dr Arjune Sen of the University of Oxford.
“The increased risk of seizures and epilepsy in children gives us a compelling reason to prevent COVID-19 in children.”
The study is conducted on the health records of 152,754 COVID-19 patients matched to the same number of controls who were diagnosed with influenza during the same period and matched for age, sex and other factors, such as comorbidities pre-existing. None of the participants had previously been diagnosed with epilepsy. The researchers looked specifically at the incidence of seizures within 6 months of being diagnosed with COVID or the flu. The analysis reveals that:
- participants with COVID-19 have a 55% increased risk of developing epilepsy or seizures within 6 months of COVID diagnosis vs participants diagnosed with influenza;
- the incidence of epilepsy or related seizures reaches 0.94% in people with COVID-19 vs 0.60% in participants who had the flu.
“The overall risk remains low”
underline the authors who recommend however that health professionals pay particular attention to people who may present signs of more subtle seizures, such as conscious focal seizures.
Finally, these data are a reminder of the on average more marked and more frequent neurological effects associated with COVID, in particular with long COVID.
