Rates of status epilepticus have increased greatly, while mortality rates increased slightly, according to a pair of retrospective serial cross-sectional studies of data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample.
Researchers reviewed 408,304 status epilepticus-related hospitalizations between 1999 and 2010 and found:
• 613 status epilepticus-related deaths occurred at a rate of approximately 2 per 1 million persons over the 11-year study.
• Status epilepticus hospitalizations increased 56.4% from 8.86 per 100,000 persons in 1999 to 13.86 in 2010.
• The mortality incidence rate increased 5.6% from 1.79 per million in 2009 to 1.89 in 2011.
• The largest increase (181%) in status epilepticus cases was seen among intubated patients.
The study authors suggest disparity between increase in diagnoses and relatively flat increase in mortality can be attributed to increased diagnostic sensitivity and billing code changes.
Citation: Betjemann JP, Josephson SA, Lowenstein DH, Burke JF. Trends in status epilepticus-related hospitalizations and mortality: redefined in US practice over time. JAMA Neurol. 2015. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.0188.