Incidence of epilepsy in a racially diverse, community-dwelling, elderly cohort: results from the Einstein aging study.
OBJECTIVE
To determine age-specific incidence and cumulative incidence of epilepsy in a well-defined cohort of elderly people, and to examine how rates of epilepsy are modified by sex, race, stroke, dementia, head injury, and depression.


METHODS
The authors examined data from a reconstructed cohort based on 1919 community-dwelling volunteers, followed as part of a large ongoing prospective aging study.


RESULTS
Age-specific incidence was 10.6 (per 100,000 person-years) between ages 45 and 59, 25.8 between ages 60 and 74, and 101.1 between ages 75 and 89. Cumulative incidence was 0.15% from age 45 to age 60, 0.38% to age 70, 1.01% to age 80, and 1.47% to age 90. In addition, the difference in cumulative incidence among African-American subjects approached statistical significance (57.6/100,000 person-years versus 26.1 in Caucasian, p=0.10), and the difference in incidence among subjects reporting a history of stroke was significantly elevated (p=0.029). Incidence of epilepsy was not statistically elevated among males, those with dementia, or individuals reporting a history of head injury or treatment for depression. Among "healthy" subjects without history of stroke, head injury, or dementia, we observed a cumulative risk of epilepsy with onset after age 60 of only 1.1%.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of epilepsy was low in this relatively healthy cohort of elderly people, especially among subjects without known risk factors. In this study we identified African-American race as a risk factor in the elderly for epilepsy independent of stroke.
Hussain
S A
SA
Department of Neurology, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
Haut
S R
SR
Lipton
R B
RB
Derby
C
C
Markowitz
S Y
SY
Shinnar
S
S
D001741:Black or African American; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D044465:White People