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Awareness weeks guide

Health Awareness Week

November is Epilepsy Awareness Month 2022

People can develop epilepsy at any stage of their lives but a large number have their first seizures during childhood or adolescence, or alternatively much later in life. Epilepsy Action Australia

UpToDate

Paediatrics

Adults

Journals

E-books

Articles

Research

Treatment

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Articles

Research
Association between the risk of seizure and COVID-19 vaccinations: A self-controlled case-series study Epilepsia 13 October 2022
The findings demonstrated no increased risk of seizure following BNT162b2 and CoronaVac vaccinations. Future studies will be warranted to evaluate the risk of seizure following COVID-19 vaccinations in different populations, with subsequent doses to ensure the generalizability.

Ambient air pollution and epileptic seizures: A panel study in Australia Epilepsia 8 April 2022
Daily exposure to elevated CO concentrations may be associated with an increased risk of epileptic seizures, especially for subclinical seizures.

The ENIGMA-Epilepsy working group: Mapping disease from large data sets Human brain mapping  29 May 2020
Here the authors review published, current, and future projects, that include structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI), and that employ advanced methods including structural covariance, and event-based modeling analysis. They explore age of onset- and duration-related features, as well as phenomena-specific work focusing on particular epilepsy syndromes or phenotypes, multimodal analyses focused on understanding the biology of disease progression, and deep learning approaches.

International League Against Epilepsy classification and definition of epilepsy syndromes with onset in childhood: Position paper by the ILAE Task Force on Nosology and Definitions Epilepsia 3 May 2022
In this paper, the authors describe the childhood onset epilepsy syndromes, most of which have both mandatory seizure type(s) and interictal electroencephalographic (EEG) features.

The impact of childhood epilepsy on academic performance: A population-based matched cohort study Seizure 18 May 2022
Highlights

  • Young people hospitalised with epilepsy have >3 times higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standard for numeracy and reading, compared to matched peers from the general population not hospitalised with epilepsy.
  • Young people hospitalised with epilepsy have 78% higher risk of not completing year 10, compared to matched peers from the general population not hospitalised with epilepsy.
  • Academic performance is worse for young females with epilepsy than young males with epilepsy, compared to their matched peers from the general population not hospitalised with epilepsy.

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Treatment
Expert advice for prescribing cannabis medicines for patients with epilepsy—drawn from the Australian clinical experience British journal of clinical pharmacology 8 March 2022
This guidance is based on expert clinical practice from a spectrum of clinicians treating epilepsy in Australia.

Drug-resistant epilepsy and mortality—Why and when do neuromodulation and epilepsy surgery reduce overall mortality Epilepsia 17 September 2022
Key Points

  • Studies investigating the impact of epilepsy surgery on long-term mortality often suffer from significant methodological issues.
  • Perioperative mortality following epilepsy surgery is <1%.
  • Epilepsy surgery might be associated with reduced long-term overall mortality and incidence of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).
  • Effect of neuromodulation therapies on long-term mortality and SUDEP risk remains uncertain.
  • Dedicated long-term prospective studies are required.

Early cost–utility analysis of genetically guided therapy for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy Epilepsia 9 September 2022
This early economic evaluation of a pharmacogenomics panel to guide treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy could potentially be cost-effective in the Australian health care system. Clinical trial evidence is necessary to confirm these findings.

Management of epilepsy in older adults: A critical review by the ILAE Task Force on Epilepsy in the elderly Epilepsia 20 October 2022
The "ideal" antiseizure medication for older adults does not exist; a personalized approach to treatment based on an individual's circumstances is needed to provide an optimal care model.

Post-traumatic Epilepsy and comorbidities: Advanced models, molecular mechanisms, biomarkers, and novel therapeutic interventions Pharmacological reviews April 2022
Post-traumatic epilepsy is a chronic seizure condition after brain injury. With few models and limited understanding of the underlying progression of epileptogenesis, progress is extremely slow to find a preventative treatment for PTE. This study reviews the current state of modeling, pathology, biomarkers, and potential interventions for PTE and comorbidities. There’s new optimism in finding a drug therapy for preventing PTE in people at risk, such as after traumatic brain injury, concussion, and serious brain injuries, especially in military persons.

Antiseizure medications for adults with Epilepsy : A review JAMA 5 April 2022
Epilepsy affects approximately 65 million people worldwide and is associated with increased rates of bodily injuries and mortality when not optimally treated. For focal and generalized epilepsy, selection of ASDs should consider the seizure and epilepsy types and epilepsy syndrome, as well as the patient’s age and sex, comorbidities, and potential drug interactions.

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Journals

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E-books

This is just a sample of the e-books the library subscribes to – you will need your library login

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Previous Awareness Weeks

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