Canada
- Epilepsy is a physical condition characterized by sudden, brief changes in how the brain works. It is a symptom of a neurological disorder - a disorder that affects the brain and shows itself in the form of seizures.
- Epilepsy is a disorder, not a disease; it is not contagious.
- Each day in Canada, an average of 42 people learn that they have epilepsy.
- Each year an average of 15,500 people learn that they have epilepsy; 44% are diagnosed before the age of 5, 55% before the age of 10, 75-85% before age 18 and 1% of children will have recurrent seizures before age 14. 1.3% are over the age of 60.
- 60% of new patients are young children and senior citizens.
- In 50 - 60% of cases, the cause of epilepsy is unknown.
- The major form of treatment is long-term drug therapy. Drugs are not a cure and can have numerous, sometimes severe, side effects.
Source: www.epilepsy.ca
USA
- Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder in the United States after Alzheimer's disease and stroke. It is equal in prevalence to cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease combined.
- Epilepsy is not a single entity but a family of more than 40 syndromes that affects more than 3 million people in the U. S. and 50,000,000 worldwide.
- Epilepsy strikes most often among the very young and the very old, although anyone can get it at any age. In the U.S. , it currently affects more than 326,000 children under age fifteen and more than 90,000 of them have severe seizures that cannot be adequately treated.
- Currently more than 570,000 adults age 65 and above in the U.S. have the condition.
- The mortality rate among people with epilepsy is two to three times higher than the general population and the risk of sudden death is 24 times greater.
- This year another 200,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with epilepsy and an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 will die of seizures and related causes, including status epilepticus (non-stop seizures), sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), drowning and other accidents.
- Epilepsy is prevalent among other disability groups such as autism (25.5%), cerebral palsy (13%), Down's syndrome (13.6%), and mental retardation (25.5%). For people with both cerebral palsy and mental retardation the prevalence is (40%).
- The association between epilepsy and depression is especially strong. More than one of every three persons with epilepsy are also affected by the mood disorder, and people with a history of depression have a 3 to 7 times higher risk of developing epilepsy.
Source: www.epilepsyfoundation.org
