Abstracts

Rationale: Faught and colleagues (2012) reported a point prevalence of epilepsy/seizures (epil/sz) of 1% among Medicare beneficiaries age 65 years and older during 2003-2005. We determined the point-prevalence of epil/sz and its co-morbidities in nursing home (NH) residents age ≥65 years in the USA during 2007. Our primary co-morbidity of interest was stroke and we also determined the geographic distribution of epilepsy with stroke. The point prevalence of epil/sz with other co-morbid conditions such as head injury, brain tumor, skull fracture, Alzheimer's, other dementia, hypertension, diabetes, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis was also examined, along with the point prevalence of epilepsy with none of these co-morbid conditions. Methods: We examined the electronic Minimum Data Set (MDS) version 2.0 for a cross-section of all residents, age ≥65 years, who resided in Medicare and/or Medicaid certified NHs in the US during 2007. The MDS contains a seizure check box as well as a field for ICD-9 codes. This database was examined for epil/sz (ICD -9 codes 345.xx or 780.39) as well as stroke (430.xx to 439.xx) and other co-morbid conditions. Results: Of the 1,186,579 residents in the 2007 data set 91,372 (7.70%) had epil/sz and 271,344 (22.87%) had stroke. An indication of epil/sz was found in 37,051 (13.7%) with stroke. There were only 64,987 persons (5.5% of the total population) with none of the co-morbid conditions listed in the Rationale, but the prevalence of epil/sz with none of the co-morbid conditions was 6.5%. Conclusions: The prevalence of epil/sz in the older NH population is much higher than that among Medicare recipients of the same ages, even in the absence of co-morbid conditions. This study was funded by ASPH/CDC #S-3822 and NIH NIA-R01AG026390.