Abstracts

Rationale: Epilepsy is a common, serious neurological disorder with substantial morbidity.1 Epidemiologic studies have identified racial disparities as one of the socio-demographic factors contributing to the rising incidence and prevalence of epilepsy.2,3,4 Therefore, evaluating incidence and prevalence trends based on racial difference is of significant importance to public health. The goal of this study is to determine the incidence and prevalence rates of epilepsy in the United States veteran population across various racial groups. Methods: Using the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) Medical SAS dataset (10/1/2007-9/30/2012), continuously enrolled adult patients (?-18 years at index) were identified as prevalent or incident cases during the study period (2009-2012). Incident and prevalent cases required ?-2 diagnostic medical claims for epilepsy (ICD-9-CM code: 345.xx, 780.39) at least 30 days apart or ?-1 medical claim for epilepsy and ?-1 prescription for an anti-epileptic drug (AED). Prevalent cases were continuously enrolled in the given year. Once patients were counted as prevalent they were included in subsequent years. Incident cases were patients who were not classified as prevalent in any previous year; based on the 5 years of available data, incident cases could not have a diagnosis in any of the previous available years. For each year, annual prevalence and incidence were calculated and reported as a percentage. Results: In 2009, prevalence cases totaled 89,023 (1.0% of the total population), 101,078 in 2010 (1.1%), 113,345 in 2011 (1.2%) and 121,597 in 2012 (1.3%). There were 23,998 annual incident cases in 2009 (0.3%), 16,880 in 2010 (0.2%), 17,595 in 2011 (0.2%), and 13,927 in 2012 (0.2%). Throughout the study period, prevalence was observed to be the highest among Black patients (1.9%-2.5%) followed by White (1.5%-2.0%), Hispanic (1.3%-1.8%) and other patients (0.5%-0.6%). Incidence rates were also highest among Black patients in 2009-2012 (0.5%-0.3%). Incidence rates were similar among White and Hispanic patients during 2009 (0.4%), 2010 (0.3%), 2011 (0.3%), and 2012 (0.2%). Conclusions: Within the VHA population, evidence of racial difference was observed, as Black patients had higher epilepsy prevalence and incidence rates than others. More targeted efforts may be necessary for better patient care in high risk populations, especially among the African American population. References 1Banerjee P, Filippi D, Hauser W. The descriptive epidemiology of epilepsy-a review. Epilepsy Res. 2009;85(1):31-45. 2Faught E, Richman J, Martin R, et al. Incidence and prevalence of epilepsy among older US Medicare beneficiaries. Neurology. 2012;78(7):448-53. 3Kharkar S, Pillai J, Rochestie D, Haneef Z. Socio-Demographic Influences on Epilepsy Outcomes in an Inner-City Population. Seizure. 2014;23:290-4. 4Paschal AM, Ablah E, Wetta-Hall R, Molgaard CA, Liow K. Stigma and safe havens: a medical sociological perspective on African-American female epilepsy patients. Epilepsy Behavior. 2005;7:106-15. Funding: This study was funded by Eisai Inc.