Epilepsy is overrepresented among young people who died from COVID-19: Analysis of nationwide mortality data in Hungary.
Seizure
; 94: 136-141, 2022 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1550074
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Studies examining epilepsy as a COVID-related death risk have come to conflicting conclusions. Our aim was to assess the prevalence of epilepsy among COVID-related deaths in Hungary.METHODS:
Each COVID-19 infection case is required to be reported on a daily basis to the National Public Health Center of Hungary. This online report includes the beginning and end of the infection, as well as information on comorbidities. Death during infection is regarded as COVID-related. The anonymized data of each deceased patient are published on an information website (www.koronavirus.gov.hu) and provides up-to-date information on each patient with the date of death, the patient's sex, age, and chronic illness.RESULTS:
There were 11,968 patients who died of COVID-19 in Hungary between 13 March 2020 and 23 January 2021. Among 11,686 patients with no missing values for comorbidities, 255 patients had epilepsy (2.2%). Epilepsy was much more common among those who died at a young age 9.3% of those who died under the age of 50 had epilepsy, compared with only 1.3% in those over the age of 80. The younger an age group was, the higher was the prevalence of epilepsy.CONCLUSION:
Patients who died of COVID-19 under the age of 50 were 10 to 20 times more likely to have epilepsy than what would have been expected from epidemiological data. Our results highlight the need for increased protection of young people with epilepsy from COVID-19 infection and the development of a vaccination strategy accordingly.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Epilepsy
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Seizure
Journal subject:
Neurology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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