Collateral damage may occur in epilepsy management during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to establish the impact of this pandemic on epilepsy patients in terms of patient-reported seizure control and emerging symptoms. Materials & Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including consecutive patients assessed by telephone contact in an epilepsy clinic during the first month of confinement. Demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded, and a 19-item questionnaire was systematically completed. Data regarding the impact of confinement, economic effects of the pandemic, and subjective perception of telemedicine were recorded. Additional clinical data were obtained in patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis. Results: Two hundred and fifty-five patients were recruited: mean age 48.2 ± 19.8 years, 121 (47.5%) women. An increase in seizure frequency was reported by 25 (9.8%) patients. Sixty-eight (26.7%) patients reported confinement-related anxiety, 22 (8.6%) depression, 31 (12.2%) both, and 72 (28.2%) insomnia. Seventythree (28.6%) patients reported a reduction in economic income. Logistic regression analysis showed that tumor-related epilepsy etiology [OR = 7.36 (95% CI 2.17-24.96)], drug-resistant epilepsy [OR = 3.44 (95% CI 1.19-9.95)], insomnia [OR = 3.25 (95% CI 1.18-8.96)], fear of epilepsy [OR = 3.26 (95% CI 1.09-9.74)], and income reduction [OR = 3.65 (95% CI 1.21-10.95)] were associated with a higher risk of increased seizure frequency. Telemedicine was considered satisfactory by 214 (83.9%) patients. Five patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, with no changes in seizure frequency. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has effects in epilepsy patients. Patients with tumor-related, drug-resistant epilepsy, insomnia, and economic difficulties are at a higher risk of increased seizure frequency. Telemedicine represents a suitable tool in this setting.

Objective: Blood biomarkers have not been widely investigated in poststroke epilepsy. In this study, we aimed to describe clinical factors and biomarkers present during acute stroke and analyze their association with the development of epilepsy at long term. Methods: A panel of 14 blood biomarkers was evaluated in patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Biomarkers were normalized and standardized using Zscores. Stroke and epilepsy-related variables were also assessed: stroke severity, determined by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, stroke type and cause, time from stroke to onset of late seizures, and type of seizure. Multiple Cox regression models were used to identify clinical variables and biomarkers independently associated with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a chronic disease of the central nervous system characterized by an electrical imbalance in neurons. It is the second most prevalent neurological disease, with 50 million people affected around the world, and 30% of all epilepsies do not respond to available treatments. Currently, the main hypothesis about the molecular processes that trigger epileptic seizures and promote the neurotoxic effects that lead to cell death focuses on the exacerbation of the glutamate pathway and the massive influx of Ca2+ into neurons by different factors. However, other mechanisms have been proposed, and most of them have also been described in other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, or multiple sclerosis. Interestingly, and mainly because of these common molecular links and the lack of effective treatments for these diseases, some antiseizure drugs have been investigated to evaluate their therapeutic potential in these pathologies. Therefore, in this review, we thoroughly investigate the common molecular pathways between epilepsy and the major neurodegenerative diseases, examine the incidence of epilepsy in these populations, and explore the use of current and innovative antiseizure drugs in the treatment of refractory epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases.