Antiepileptic drugs for older people

Abstract

Epilepsy in older people is a common problem. It is estimated that in Europe there are 85 000 new cases of epilepsy annually in those over 65 years old, equivalent to an incidence of 100 per 100 000. Incidence increases with age and the rate in older people is higher than in all but the first year of life. The older population has a median prevalence of 4.7 per 1000 (range 3.0 to 7.3) from nine studies and may be underestimated by case-ascertainment bias common to many studies of older people.