Epilepsy and the risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death: A population study.

Objective: People with epilepsy (PWE) may be at an increased risk of severe COVID-19. It is important to characterize this risk to inform PWE and for future health and care planning. We assessed whether PWE were at higher risk of being hospitalized with, or dying from, COVID-19.

Health care utilization and mortality for people with epilepsy during COVID-19: A population study.

Objective: This study was undertaken to characterize changes in health care utilization and mortality for people with epilepsy (PWE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study using linked, individual-level, population-scale anonymized health data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank. We identified PWE living in Wales during the study "pandemic period" (January 1, 2020-June 30, 2021) and during a "prepandemic" period (January 1, 2016-December 31, 2019).

Epilepsy mortality in Wales during COVID-19.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased mortality worldwide and those with chronic conditions may have been disproportionally affected. However, it is unknown whether the pandemic has changed mortality rates for people with epilepsy. We aimed to compare mortality rates in people with epilepsy in Wales during the pandemic with pre-pandemic rates.

SUDEP and mortality in epilepsy: The role of routinely collected healthcare data, registries, and health inequalities.

Routinely collected data are a powerful research resource and offer the opportunity to further our understanding of epilepsy mortality and Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). The advantages of using routinely collected data include that it often covers whole populations, is already collected, and can be easily linked to other data sources. A significant disadvantage is the difficulty in obtaining accurate causes of death and correctly identifying cases of SUDEP.

Epilepsy and seizures in young people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: Prevalence and links with other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objective: The true prevalence of epileptic seizures and epilepsy in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is unknown, because previous studies have relied on historical medical record review.

Treatment of psychiatric comorbidities in patients with epilepsy and intellectual disabilities: Is there a role for the neurologist?

This paper will explore the nature of psychiatric co-morbidities in people with an intellectual disability (ID) who have epilepsy. The complexity of clinical presentations and associated co-morbidities require thorough assessment utilising both neurological and psychiatric skills. The neurologist plays a central role in the management of epilepsy in people with ID and therefore requires basic competencies in the assessment of neuropsychiatric co-morbidities.

Discrimination, domestic violence, abuse, and other adverse life events in people with epilepsy: Population-based study to assess the burden of these events and their contribution to psychopathology.

Objective: To quantify the experience of discrimination, domestic violence, abuse, and other stressful life events in people with epilepsy in comparison with the general population and people with other chronic conditions. To assess whether any excess relative burden of these adversities could explain the higher rates of depression in people with epilepsy.

Methods: The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007 used comprehensive interviews with 7,403 individuals living in private residences in England.

Pathogenic copy number variants and SCN1A mutations in patients with intellectual disability and childhood-onset epilepsy.

Background: Copy number variants (CNVs) have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability (ID), autism, epilepsy and psychiatric disease. There are few studies of CNVs in patients with both ID and epilepsy.

Methods: We evaluated the range of rare CNVs found in 80 Welsh patients with ID or developmental delay (DD), and childhood-onset epilepsy.

Change over a 16-month period in the psychological well-being of mothers of girls and women with Rett syndrome.

Purpose: There is an emerging research literature on the experiences of family members of girls and women with Rett syndrome (RTT), but a lack of longitudinal data.

Methods: Fifty mothers whose daughters had RTT were surveyed 16-17 months after an earlier cross-sectional study. Measures completed at both time points focused on maternal positive and negative psychological well-being and their daughters' behavioral and emotional problems and RTT behavioral phenotype severity.

Psychological Well-Being of Mothers and Siblings in Families of Girls and Women with Rett Syndrome.

Few published studies have reported on the psychological well-being of family members of individuals with Rett syndrome (RTT). Eighty-seven mothers of girls and women with RTT completed a questionnaire survey about their daughters' behavioral phenotype, current health, and behavior problems, and their own and a sibling's well-being. Mothers reported increased anxiety but similar levels of depression when compared to a normative sample.

Epilepsy prevalence and socioeconomic deprivation in England.

Objective: Epilepsy is more prevalent in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation; however, the factors that comprise this deprivation are not understood. We aimed to investigate the association between epilepsy, individual elements of deprivation, and geographic region in order to identify modifiable elements.

Methods: Epilepsy prevalence was calculated via retrospective analysis of data recorded by general practitioners via the Quality and Outcomes Framework.

Neuropsychiatric disease in patients with periventricular heterotopia.

Periventricular heterotopia (PH) is a disorder of neuronal migration. Previous clinical reports of PH have largely focused on the seizure-related and neurodevelopmental consequences of this condition. The authors report four unrelated individuals with PH, with particular emphasis on their behavioral and psychiatric morbidity.

Translation of genetic findings to clinical practice in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

It has been estimated that JME (juvenile myoclonic epilepsy), when compared to other adult epilepsy syndromes, is most likely to have a genetic cause. However, decades of research have not brought us closer to finding a single 'JME gene' that is important on a population basis. Is this due in part to the genetic complexity of the syndrome, the cryptic nature of the genes of effect, or perhaps because JME is not one condition at all but many? Before we can begin to harness the power of next-generation sequencing techniques, we must first reduce JME down to lacunae of homogeneity--using increasingly more sophisticated phenotyping tools.

Epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidity: a nationally representative population-based study.

Purpose: In a nationally representative population-based study in England, we estimated the burden of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental comorbidities in people with epilepsy. We investigated whether any overrepresentation of comorbidities could be explained by epilepsy being a chronic medical or neurologic condition, or by the confounding effect of demographic and socioeconomic factors or other health conditions.

Methods: The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2007 comprised detailed interviews with 7,403 individuals living in private households in England.

Help-seeking and treatment preferences for depression in epilepsy.

Depression among people with a diagnosis of epilepsy is common, underrecognized, and undertreated, yet the reasons for this are unclear. In this study people with a diagnosis of epilepsy recruited from primary care were mailed a questionnaire covering help seeking for psychological distress, treatment preferences for depression, and current symptoms of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ2). Eighty-six people with epilepsy responded to the survey and 44% of the sample reported they would not seek help if they were feeling stressed, worried, or low and it was affecting their daily lives.

The psychosocial impact of epilepsy in adults with an intellectual disability.

Epilepsy has a pervasive impact on the quality of life, and thus the psychosocial well-being, of adults with an intellectual disability. Social and economical well-being appears to be affected by an increase in restrictions on activities and thus social contact. The population has very high rates of challenging behaviors and of mental illness.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of topiramate in adults with epilepsy and intellectual disability: impact on seizures, severity, and quality of life.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled UK trial evaluated the effect of topiramate as add-on therapy on seizure frequency, seizure severity, and quality of life in patients with epilepsy and intellectual disability. There were three phases: 4 weeks baseline, 18 weeks titration to 200-400 mg topiramate/day (adults) or 5-9 mg/kg/day (children), 12 weeks maintenance. Recruitment was low (88/120); analyses were underpowered.

The outcome of initiation of antiepileptic drug monotherapy in primary care: a UK database survey.

We describe the incidence of newly treated epilepsy in primary care and patterns of antiepileptic drug prescription, numbers of patients who remain on initial therapy and health service utilisation. Data was collected from 100 general practices that subscribed to the Doctors Independent Network (DIN-LINK) project. Over the study period 1531 patients were identified, equating to an annual incidence rate of 36.

Estimated cost of inpatient admissions and outpatient appointments for a population with epilepsy: a record linkage study.

Purpose: This study describes the hospital costs for a population with epilepsy in 1 year (1999). The study was conducted in a defined geographic United Kingdom population of 424,000.

Methods: A register of patients with epilepsy was constructed by using a variety of data sources that had undergone a process of record linkage.

Prevalence of epilepsy and associated health service utilization and mortality among patients with intellectual disability.

We considered the prevalence of epilepsy and associated health service utilization for a population with intellectual disability. Registers for epilepsy and intellectual disability were created using a range of datasets. Of 1,595 people with an intellectual disability, 257 (16.

Epilepsy and mortality: a record linkage study in a U.K. population.

Purpose: To examine patterns of mortality for a population with epilepsy compared with the nonepilepsy population.

Methods: The study used cross-sectional record linkage, combining an electronic death register with an epilepsy patient register constructed from a variety of routine health data sources collected from 1991 to 1997. The study was conducted in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, U.

Self-discontinuation of antiepileptic medication in pregnancy: detection by hair analysis.

Purpose: Concerns over teratogenicity of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy must be balanced against the risks of seizures to the mother and developing fetus. Pharmacokinetic changes and vomiting may alter drug levels, but more important may be the patient's decision to stop medication before or during pregnancy. Compliance assessment traditionally relies either on self-reporting or on AED plasma level monitoring; neither provides reliable information on drug-taking behaviour over an extended interval (e.