Good news-Childhood Epilepsy in UK Has Fallen Sharply
This is very good news for all people who suffer from Epilepsy. How this happen? Before we know that let us see what is all about Epilepsy.
Epilepsy
The word "epilepsy" comes from the Greek word epi meaning "upon, at, close upon", and the Greek word Leptos meaning "seizure". From those roots we have the Old French word epilepsie, and Latin word epilepsia and the Greek words epilepsia and epilepsies.
People with epilepsy tend to have recurrent seizures (fits). The seizures occur because of a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain - there is an overload of electrical activity in the brain. This causes a temporary disturbance in the messaging systems between brain cells. During a seizure the patient's brain becomes "halted" or "mixed up".
Every function in our bodies is triggered by messaging systems in our brain. What a patient with epilepsy experiences during a seizure will depend on what part of his/her brain that epileptic activity starts, and how widely and quickly it spreads from that area. Consequently, there are several types of seizures and each patient will have epilepsy in his/her own unique way.
What are the symptoms of epilepsy?
- The main symptoms of epilepsy are repeated seizures. There are some symptoms which may indicate a person has epilepsy. If one or more of these symptoms are present a medical exam is advised, especially if they recur: A convulsion with no temperature (no fever).
- Short spells of blackout, or confused memory.
- Intermittent fainting spells, during which bowel or bladder control is lost. This is frequently followed by extreme tiredness.
- For a short period the person is unresponsive to instructions or questions.
- The person becomes stiff, suddenly, for no obvious reason
- The person suddenly falls for no clear reason
- Sudden bouts of blinking without apparent stimuli
- Sudden bouts of chewing, without any apparent reason
- For a short time the person seems dazed, and unable to communicate
- Repetitive movements that seem inappropriate
- The person becomes fearful for no apparent reason; he/she may even panic or become angry
- Peculiar changes in senses, such as smell, touch and sound
- The arms, legs, or body jerk, in babies these will appear as cluster of rapid jerking movements
What is the prognosis? What is the outlook?
Experts say that about 60% of people who are untreated have no further seizures during the 24 months following their first seizure. The outlook (prognosis) for most people with epilepsy is good. Approximately 70% go into remission for 5 years on or off treatment (no seizures for five years). About 20% to 30% develop chronic epilepsy (long term epilepsy) - these people are generally treated with AEDs.
How common is epilepsy?
Approximately 50 out of every 100,000 people develop epilepsy each year in industrialized nations.
UK - According to Epilepsy Action 460,000 people in the United Kingdom have epilepsy.
USA - According to The Epilepsy Foundation over 3 million Americans are affected by epilepsy and seizures. About 200,000 new cases of seizures and epilepsy occur in the USA each year. 10% of all Americans will experience a seizure some time during their lifetime.
New Research-Childhood Epilepsy In UK Has Fallen Sharply
The past decade in the UK has seen a sharp fall in the number of children diagnosed with epilepsy, reflecting a trend seen in other countries, according to a study published recently in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood. Senior author Ruth Gilbert, a professor in the MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health, Institute of Child Health, at University College London, says in a BBC report of the study, “We’re getting better at diagnosing and deciding who should be treated and then there is also probably an effect of factors like fewer cases of meningitis.Epilepsy is a tendency to have seizures (sometimes called fits) where sudden bursts of excess electrical activity in the brain temporarily disrupt the normal travel of messages between brain cells.
For their study, Gilbert and colleagues examined records from the Health Improvement Network, which furnishes data on a representative sample of about 5% the UK population.
The data they used in their analysis came from records of more than 344,000 children aged 0 to 14 years who had variously been followed from 1994 to 2008. They found that overall, the number of children diagnosed with epilepsy who were born between 2003 and 2005, was 33% lower than those who were born between 1994 and 1996. They also found that the annual rate of epilepsy fell by 4% a year between 2001 and 2008, after adjusting for age, gender and deprivation. When they used a more sensitive indicator for epilepsy, the number of diagnoses fell by 47% and the annual rate fell by 9% per year, for the same periods. The researchers conclude, “The decline since the mid-1990s in epilepsy recorded in primary care may be due to more specific diagnosis, cessation of treatment for some forms of epilepsy, reduced exposure to risk factors or all of these factors.
They suggest vaccination against meningitis and reductions in cases of traumatic brain injury in children, both of which are known risk factors for childhood epilepsy, may also partially explain the fall in the figures. Gilbert says a misdiagnosis of epilepsy can blight a child for life. But this is less likely to happen nowadays, because the approach is more rigorous, partly as a result of guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).Nevertheless, Simon Wigglesworth, deputy chief executive at Epilepsy Action, says "epilepsy remains one of the most prevalent neurological conditions in children in the UK."He says while the study's results may be explained by falling rates of misdiagnoses in children, which they know to be high, they are not convinced it is the whole picture. Doctors tell them they are not seeing falling numbers of children presenting with epilepsy at their surgeries.
(Source-Archives of Diseases in Childhood)
