Abstracts

Rationale: Epilepsy has serious health consequences and is associated with increased medical and social service costs, and decreased productivity in patients globally. While there have been studies of this topic abroad, there are very few investigations relating to trends in epilepsy admission in the US population. Our aim was to examine the 10-year trend in hospitalizations and causes of admissions in people with epilepsy. Methods: The 2005-2014 National Inpatient Sample was used for the analysis. It is the largest US all-payer hospitalization database which includes national patient and hospital level variables for ~35 million inpatient stays annually, and is representative of the general population. A validated ICD-9-CM based epilepsy case definition (345.x ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes) was used to identify those with epilepsy in any diagnostic position. The primary outcome was proportion of hospitalizations annually in people who have a diagnosis of epilepsy (regardless of diagnosis position). The secondary outcomes were causes for admissions in people with vs. without epilepsy. Descriptive statistics were used to examine trends and causes for admissions. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was performed to determine whether the proportion of admissions changed over time in those with epilepsy. Results: There were 1,556,984 hospital admissions between 2005-2014 in people with epilepsy. Over this 10-year period, the proportion of hospital admissions attributed to persons with epilepsy increased from 0.27% to 2.99% (Cochran-Armitage trend test p<0.01). The top causes (primary diagnosis position) of admission in those with epilepsy in 2005 were epilepsy/convulsions (0.13%), pneumonia (0.01%), complication of device/implant (0.003%) and in 2014 were epilepsy/convulsions (0.49%), septicemia (0.21%), mood disorders (0.10%). In comparison, the most common reasons for admission in patients without epilepsy in 2005 were liveborn (10.82%), pneumonia (3.44%), coronary atherosclerosis/other heart disease (2.84%) and in 2014 were liveborn (10.81%), septicemia (4.07%), osteoarthritis (3.01%). Conclusions: There are a higher proportion of admissions attributed to people with epilepsy over time. Mood disorders are a more common cause of admission in people with epilepsy in recent years suggesting that screening for these is important in this population. Increased awareness of reasons for admission such as psychiatric, infectious and respiratory causes in particular may help prevent some hospital admissions in those living with epilepsy. Funding: No funding