Blog # 157: Cognition and dementia in older patients with epilepsy
Today’shealth care practices have resulted in a substantial rise in the number ofolder adults with epilepsy. In America we have one percent of our population,three million, suffering with epilepsy. In the rest of the developed world, theelderly over 65 also have the highest incidence of epilepsy. It no longer isthe pediatric population that develops the most cases of epilepsy (See my Blog# 15, Epilepsyis most common in the Elderly, at LanceFogan.com)
Olderpeople are more likely to have cognitive decline with epilepsy. There seems tobe a relationship between epilepsy and dementia. Epidemiological findingsreveal that people with late-onset epilepsy and individuals with Alzheimer’sdisease share common risk factors. Medical science isn’t conclusively settledon the cause of Alzheimer’s nor who will develop it but it seems in some peopleto be mediated by underlying vascular changes in the aging brain. Contributingto their development of epilepsy is their survival after brain trauma, strokesand various diseases.1
Theauthors Sen, Capelli, et.al.,suggest that there is considerable intersection between epilepsy, Alzheimer’sdisease and cerebrovascular disease raising the possibility that betterunderstanding of shared mechanisms in these conditions might help to amelioratenot just seizures, but also epileptogenesis and cognitive dysfunction.
1. A. Sen, V. Capelli, M. Husain. Cognition and dementia in older patients with epilepsy Brain, Volume 141, Issue 6, June 2018, Pages1592–1608, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awy022
hard-hitting emotional family medical drama, “DINGS, is told from a mother’s point of view.“DINGS” is his first novel. Aside from acclamation on internet bookstoresites, U.S. Report of Books, and the Hollywood Book Review, DINGS has beenadvertised in recent New York Times Book Reviews, the Los Angeles TimesCalendar section and Publishers Weekly. DINGS teaches epilepsy and is now available ineBook, audiobook, soft and hard cover editions.
