Various genetic and metabolic factors affect the development of epilepsy.
epilepsy is a brain alteration characterized by a predisposition to suffer epileptic seizures, with neurobiological, cognitive, psychological and social consequences. It is also one of the most common neurological diseases prevalentIt is the most common neurological disorder in kids and the third neurological disease more prevalent in people greater. The Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) estimates that in Spain there are more than 400.000 personas with this disease, even stating that the three per cent of the population will suffer the illness at some point in your life.
“There are many studies that indicate that, in recent years, the prevalence of this disease, due to population aging. Age, together with the increase in other diseases that can cause epilepsyhow tumors, stroke o dementia, is a factor that increases the risk of developing this disease and, as the average age of the population increases, so does its prevalence. Currently in Spain some 20,000 new cases each year and it will increase, since according to demographic data at the national level, it is expected that the 70 percent from population sea older than 65 years in the next 30 years”, comments Juan José Poza, Coordinator of the Epilepsy Study Group of the Spanish Society of Neurology.
In any case, the development of this disease is not only influenced by age, since they are involved various genetic and metabolic factors, in addition to others still unknown. Population studies estimate that between 8 and 10 percent of the population will suffer an epileptic seizure throughout their lives and that 3 percent will develop the disease.
Life expectancy in patients with epilepsy
Although epilepsy can send spontaneously and more than one 70 percent of patients manage to control their disease thanks to existing pharmacological treatments, epilepsy refractory to medical treatment affects between a third and a quarter of patients with epilepsy. In Spain, there are currently some 100,000 patients with drug-resistant epilepsywho see an increased risk of premature death, trauma, psychosocial disorders and greater comorbidity.
“In patients with refractory epilepsythere is the possibility of carrying out other therapeutic procedures, such as surgery, neurostimulation, ketogenic diet or the combination of these treatments, with the aim of controlling the appearance of epileptic seizures, and improving their quality of life and survival”, says Juan José Poza. “But despite these alternatives, and the fact that there is a high percentage of the population that can control their disease with existing treatments, it is still necessary keep investigating to improve the treatments and quality of life of these patients because epilepsy continues to be the second neurological pathology in years of life potentially lost or lived with disability”.
And it is that, in addition to the fact that epilepsy has an impact on the life expectancy of patients, because their mortality rate es 2-3 times higher than that of the general populationin 50 percent of adult patients it is associated with psychiatric, neurological and/or intellectual disorders and 30-40 percent of children with epilepsy see their intellectual capacity affected. Epilepsy is a disease with a high social and health impact, which increases with the presence of other conditions that coexist with epilepsy, because the need for health care increases. Something that has become even more evident in these two years of pandemic because, as shown in a study presented at the last Annual Meeting of the SEN, people with epilepsy were hospitalizedadmitted to the ICU and died from Covid-19 almost double in proportion to the general population.
In any case, regardless of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, epileptic seizures are associated with frequent use of hospital emergency services. According to a study recently carried out by members of the SEN Epilepsy Study Group, they represent up to 20 percent of all urgent neurological care. According to this same study, between 15 to 35 percent of patients who go to the hospital emergency services due to epileptic seizures are patients with a previous diagnosis of epilepsy.
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