TOPLINE:

Mortality due to status epilepticus (SE) in the US nearly doubled from 1999 to 2020, increasing particularly among individuals aged 75 years or older and Black, a new retrospective study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of national data from the CDC’s Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research platform from 1999 to 2020.
• They obtained demographic and death certificate information from all US decedents, including the underlying cause of death.
• Additionally, they analyzed annual deaths due to SE, stratified on the basis of age (< 25, 25-49, 50-74, and ≥ 75 years), race (American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black or African American, or White), and ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic).

TAKEAWAY:

• Age-standardized mortality due to SE increased nearly twofold from 1999 to 2020 (0.13 to 0.25 per 100,000 persons; average annual percent change [AAPC], 3.07%; P for trend < .001). There were 16,491 SE-related deaths during the time period.
• Mortality during the study period was highest among the adults aged 85 years or older. Among individuals aged 75 years or older, the fastest increase occurred between 2008 and 2017 (AAPC, 9.95%).
• Black or African American individuals aged 75 years or older had the highest SE mortality rates and the largest increase in mortality from 2009 to 2020 (AAPC, 10.1%). Non-Hispanic White individuals had the largest overall increase in mortality due to SE (AAPC, 5.33%; P for trend < .001).
• Cardiac arrest, anoxic brain injury, and respiratory arrest were the major causes of death attributed to SE.

IN PRACTICE:

“Rising mortality rates in older adults may be related to increasing life expectancies and longer survival with comorbidities that cause seizures (brain injury or stroke), leaving older adults more susceptible to SE,” the investigators wrote.

“Investigation into the underlying causes of SE-related mortality and reasons for these disparities is needed,” they added.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Wesley Budd, DO, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. It was published online on September 8 in Neurology.

LIMITATIONS:

This study relied on causes of death given in the death certificate, which may have led to misclassification. Additionally, small numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander individuals limited the analysis in these populations.

DISCLOSURES:

The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.