EAN 2022 | Epilepsy in adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities: epidemiology & considerations
Christian Brandt, MD, Bielefeld University, Medical School, Bielefeld, Germany, discusses the differences in epidemiology in adult epilepsy patients with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) and important considerations when treating these patients. The prevalence of epilepsy is much higher in individuals with NDDs than in the general population, and it depends on the degree of impairment: patient groups with more severe intellectual disabilities have a higher prevalence of epilepsy. Since patients with epilepsy and NDDs have special needs, a careful approach is needed when working with this patient population. Clinical experience has indicated that patients with NDDs are more sensitive to adverse events of antiseizure medications, making it essential to closely monitor the tolerability of those drugs in patients with NDDs. This interview took place at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) 2022 Congress in Vienna, Austria.
Transcript (edited for clarity)
The group of patients with neurodevelopmental disabilities or with intellectual disability is a very important patient group for several reasons. And you asked for the epidemiology and, well, that is actually a major difference between persons with normal intelligence and those with neurodevelopmental disabilities. And as you know, there is a prevalence of between 0.5% and 1% of epilepsy in the general population...
The group of patients with neurodevelopmental disabilities or with intellectual disability is a very important patient group for several reasons. And you asked for the epidemiology and, well, that is actually a major difference between persons with normal intelligence and those with neurodevelopmental disabilities. And as you know, there is a prevalence of between 0.5% and 1% of epilepsy in the general population. And the prevalence of epilepsy is much higher in persons with NDDs. So it is above 20% in general, and it’s depends on the degree of impairment. So if you go to the group of people with profound intellectual disabilities, there is a prevalence of epilepsy of around 50% in this group.
And this is one reason why it is an important group, but it is a special group in other aspects as well. So the patients have special needs obviously, and so needs careful approach in terms of communication. And it’s also very important to monitor the tolerability of anti-seizure medications in persons with intellectual disability. So it seems from clinical experience that people with ID are more sensitive to adverse events of anti-seizure medication in general. And so it’s actually important to closely monitor the patients.
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Disclosures
Honoraria for speaking or consulting activities from Angelini/Arvelle, Eisai, Equilibre, GW Pharmaceuticals, Johnson&Johnson, Marinus, UCB Pharma, Xenon and Zogenix
