Skip to main content

Hospital Admissions for Epilepsy Change With Climatic Factors

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on July 15, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 15, 2024 -- Changes in climate are possible trigger factors for seizure-related hospitalizations in patients with epilepsy, according to a study published online June 11 in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

Thilo Hammen, from the Friedrich-Alexander-University Hospital Erlangen in Germany, and colleagues used data from 9,366 patients with epilepsy who were admitted to the hospital due to epileptic seizures to assess the influence of a spectrum of climatic factors and seasonal variations on hospital admissions.

The researchers found that climatic factors, such as precipitation and air pressure, can increase the frequency of hospital admissions for seizures in patients with general-onset epilepsy. However, patients with focal seizures were less prone to be impacted by climatic changes and, as a result, there was less of an effect seen on hospital admissions for focal seizures.

"As climate change intensifies meteorological and climatic factors and, consequently, their impact on human health in the following decades, it is urgently necessary to expand research on the effects of altered climate parameters and their impact on the course of diseases in the future," the authors write. "Multicenter, continent-related clinical studies and basic science studies, such as animal studies, are crucial in reliably assessing and comparing the influence of different global climatic factors on the genetic and pathophysiological basis of epilepsy."

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Tumor-Related Epilepsy Not Strong Prognostic Factor in Diffuse Glioma

WEDNESDAY, May 21, 2025 -- For patients with diffuse gliomas, tumor-related epilepsy (TRE) is not a strong prognostic factor, according to a study published in the May issue of...

All-Cause Mortality Higher With Sleep Deprivation in Seniors With Epilepsy

MONDAY, May 19, 2025 -- Older adults with sleep deprivation and epilepsy have an elevated risk for all-cause mortality, according to a study published online April 23 in...

Heart Disease Mortality Increases With Combined Day-Night Heatwaves

TUESDAY, April 15, 2025 -- Exposure-response curves reveal the impacts of daytime-only, nighttime-only, and compound heatwaves on cause-specific heart disease mortality, according...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.