Seizures, safety and submersion: sense and sensibility

Patients of all ages with an epilepsy are at an increased risk of a premature death. The standardised mortality rate in all patients with an epilepsy is between 1.6 and 4.1 but considerably higher (up to 10) in those with a medically-refractory epilepsy and with additional childhood-onset comorbid problems including learning difficulties and severe four-limb spastic cerebral palsy. Mortality in epilepsy may be seizure-related (eg, resulting in an accident, including submersion1 or in convulsive status epilepticus) or associated with an underlying neurological disorder. Only a few of the factors associated with the increased mortality risk are outside the patient's (or the family's, in the case of children) control and largely non-preventable, notably sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and complications of the underlying neurological disorder responsible for the epilepsy. Most other factors are under some degree of control, which, although not certain to prevent premature death, may substantially reduce...

from # All Medicine by Alexandros G. Sfakianakis via alkiviadis.1961 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2ia0mXm