Skip to main content

New Definition of Epilepsy Improves Diagnosis, Treatment

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 15, 2025.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 15, 2025 -- The new International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) definition of epilepsy results in a higher frequency of epilepsy diagnosis and treatment, according to a study published online March 23 in Frontiers in Neurology.

Lena Habermehl, M.D., from the Epilepsy Center Hessen at Philipps-University Marburg in Germany, and colleagues investigated the clinical impact of the new ILAE epilepsy definition on diagnosis, treatment, and short-term outcome. The analysis included 235 adult patients admitted with a first epileptic seizure from 2018 to 2021.

The researchers found that 62.1 percent of patients were diagnosed with epilepsy, following the new ILAE criteria. Just under half of people diagnosed with epilepsy had potential epileptogenic lesions on imaging (49.3 percent). At six months of follow-up, three-quarters of patients were seizure-free (77.3 percent), including 89 of the 146 patients diagnosed with epilepsy (70.6 percent). At 12 months of follow-up, 129 patients (80.6 percent) were seizure-free. The use of antiseizure medicine significantly decreased the recurrence rate (odds ratio, 0.46).

"Our results suggest that the new definition of epilepsy results in a higher frequency of epilepsy diagnosis and treatment," the authors write. "Short-term outcomes improved (one-year recurrence rate of 19.4 percent)."

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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...

Persistent, New Mucus Plugs Associated With Faster Decline in FEV1 in COPD

WEDNESDAY, May 21, 2025 -- For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), persistent and newly formed mucus plugs are associated with a faster decrease in forced...

Combinations of Chronic, Physical Illnesses Up the Risk of Subsequent Depression

WEDNESDAY, May 21, 2025 -- Certain groups of physical multimorbidity may be associated with a higher risk of subsequent depression, according to a study published online May 13...

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.