Epidemiology of Epilepsy

Epilepsy affects 1 out of every 26 people during their lifetime. Worldwide, the incidence of epilepsy ranges from 28.0/100,000 to 235.5/100,000, with the large variation attributable to differences in methodology across studies. The prevalence of active epilepsy provides important information about the burden of epilepsy in the population and spurs public health planner to assess the needs of the epilepsy population. The active prevalence of epilepsy ranges from 2.4/1,000 to 22.8/1,000 worldwide and more than 65 million people have active epilepsy. Risk factors for childhood-onset and adult-onset epilepsy are discussed, considering epilepsy etiologies (e.g., severe traumatic brain injury), newer risk factors without bidirectional relationships with epilepsy (e.g., low socioeconomic status), risk factors with bidirectional relationships (e.g., psychiatric disorders), and different types of acute symptomatic seizures (e.g., febrile seizures).