title: High risk of developing subsequent epilepsy in patients with sleep-disordered breathing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is often associated with other medical disorders. Whether SDB interacts with other factors for developing subsequent epilepsy remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  This population-based cohort study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Patients aged >20 years and diagnosed with SDB between 2000 and 2010 comprised the SDB cohort (n = 138,507), and their data were compared with those of the comparison cohort (n = 138,507). The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for epilepsy was calculated using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The SDB cohort had an increased risk of epilepsy (aHR = 1.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36-1.66). The sex-stratified analysis revealed a significant adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for epilepsy with a 1.51-fold higher risk for female patients, and also a significantly 1.49-fold higher risk for male patients in the SDB cohort. Although epilepsy incidence increased with age in both cohorts, different age groups in the SDB cohort all had a significantly higher risk of developing epilepsy than comparison cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This population-based cohort study indicates that patients with SDB are at a high risk of developing subsequent epilepsy, in both sexes and all age groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hualien Tzu Chi General Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.|College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tomor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harnod
authors.affiliation: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.|College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chiao
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.|College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Li
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Neurology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tseng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000150:complications*; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult