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Epidemiology



PREVALENCE AND INCIDENCE

hile prevalence is the number of cases in the population at a given time, the incidence is the number of new cases per given population per year. So what is the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy?

Prevalence: Epilepsy is far more common than most of us realize, affecting approximately 0.6% of the Canadian population.

Incidence: With a Canadian population of 31 millions, in 2003, the incidence is estimated at 15,500 new cases per year in Canada.

Age (years) Prevalence (%)*
0-11 0.3
12-14 0.6
16-24 0.6
25-44 0.7
46-64 0.7
> 65 0.7

* Data from Ontario Health Survey, Community Health Survey and National Population Health Survey.

Updated by Dr. S. Wiebe (former President CLAE) & all.

References
  1. National Population Health Survey, 1998-1999 (Cycle 3): Household Component. General file. [machine readable data file]. Ottawa, ON. Statistics Canada. 2001-01-19.
  2. Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 1.1 (2000-2001). Statistics Canada 2001.
  3. Wiebe S, Bellhouse D, Fallary C, Eliasziv M. Burden of epilepsy: the Ontario health survey. Can J Neurol Sci 1999;26:263-70.
  4. Kotsopoulos IA, Merode T, Kessels JW, et al. Systematic review and metanalysis of incidence studies of epilepsy and unprovoked seizures. Epilepsia 2002;43:1402-1409.
  5. Ronen GM, Penney S, Andrews W. The epidemiology of clinical neonatal seizures in Newfoundland: a population-based study. J Pediatr 1999:134(1):71-5.
  6. Hauser WA, Annegers JF, Kurland LT. The prevalence of epilepsy in Rochester, Minessota, 1940-1980. Epilepsia 1991;32:429-445.
  7. Bell GS, Sander JW. The epidemiology of epilepsy: the size of the problem. Seizure 2001:10:306-316.
  8. Everitt AD, Birnie KD, Stevens JM, Sander JW, Duncan JS, Shorvon SD. A prospective MRI study of the etiology of epilepsy seizures in a large community based cohort. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998;65:417.
  9. Dilorio C, Osborne Shafer P, Letz R, Schomer DL, Yeager K. The association of stigma with self-management and perceptions of health care among adults with epilepsy. Epilepsy behavior 2003;4(3):259-67
  10. Baker GA, Jacoby A, Buck D, Stalgis C, Monnet D. Quality of life of people with epilepsy: a European study. Epilepsia 1997;38(3):353-362.
  11. McKhan GM, Bourgeois B, Goodman R. Epilepsy surgery: indications, approaches and results. Semin Neurol 2002;22:269-279.

AGE OF ONSET

pilepsy is often thought of as a condition of childhood but it can develop at any time of life. 30% of new cases every year begin in childhood, particularly in early childhood and around the time of adolescence. Another period of relatively high incidence is in people over the age of 65.


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