Epilepsy and its relationship to sudden death
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder of the central nervous system characterized by recurrent seizures with or without convulsions Currently, seizures are classified into four groups: simple (status epilepticus), partial (seizures in infants and young adults), complex (generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS)) and unclassified seizures Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorder that affect >50 million people across the world. It is now widely recognized that people with epilepsy are two to three times more likely to die early. It reduces life expectancy by 10 years for those with symptomatic epilepsy and by two years for those with idiopathic epilepsies1. Accidents, sudden unexpected deaths, status epilepticus and suicides constitute a vast majority of cause of death in epilepsy 2
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People with epilepsy have increased risk of premature death, and their life expectancy may reduce by 2-10 yr. Population- and hospital-based studies have shown that the excess mortality in epilepsy is not entirely explained by deaths directly attributable to epilepsy such as accidents and drowning during a seizure. It is also significantly contributed by deaths from other causes such as cardiac deaths, deaths due to malignancies and other causes. It had recently been recognized that sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy (SUDEP) contributed to a small yet important proportion of mortality in epilepsy SUDEPs are deaths (witnessed or unwitnessed) unrelated to trauma, drowning or status epilepticus and not attributable to any specific medical conditions. Several factors related to epilepsy and drug therapy have been found to be associated with higher risk of SUDEP.
