Study: Seizures Not Common In Alzheimer Disease

Though seizures are most common in Alzheimer’s patients, recent reports of Archives Of Neurology suggests that they are not actually a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Recent study found that only about 1.5% of AD patients developed seizures over an average of 3 years after diagnosis of the condition. The incidence of the seizures observed in AD patients is less than 1 patient with a seizure for every 200 persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

However, earlier reports suggest that seizures are most commonly seen in more advanced stages of the disease and there was no link found between seizures and Alzheimer’s disease duration or brain function.

In the study, Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, from Columbia University Medical Center, New York, and colleagues followed 453 patients from the early stages of AD for up to 14 years (average, 3.7 years). The patients were in generally good health, well educated and mostly white. Their average age at the outset was 74 years.

Although  higher than expected seizures are observed in aged people, investigators suggest that younger age patients are at high risk.

Source: Reuters