Late-onset epilepsy and subsequent increased risk of dementia

Abstract

Inflammation is considered as a key pathogenesis factor of dementia and epilepsy. However, epilepsy’s association with dementia, particularly its role in the development of dementia, remains unclear. To evaluate the association between epilepsy and the risk of dementia, in Taiwan, we have now conducted a retrospective cohort study comprising 675 individuals (age, ≥50 years) with epilepsy and 2,025 matched control subjects without epilepsy. In order to match individuals diagnosed with epilepsy with those with no diagnosis of epilepsy (comparison cohort), we utilized exact matching at a ratio of 1:3. Compared with those in the comparison cohort, individuals in the epilepsy cohort had a significantly increased risk of developing dementia (adjusted hazard ratio = 2.87, p < 0.001). A similar result has been observed after stratifying for sex (adjusted hazard ratio in males = 2.95, p < 0.001; adjusted hazard ratio in females = 2.66, p < 0.001). To conclude, based on these data, epileptic individuals ≥50 years were at a greater risk of developing dementia than people who do not have epilepsy, which indicates that a diagnosis of epilepsy presents a greater risk for the development of dementia.

The Roles of Optogenetics and Technology in Neurobiology: A Review

“…More than 20% of epileptic patients develop stubborn resistance to epileptic drugs ( Zhou et al, 2013 ; Murawiec et al, 2020 ), which eventually develops into refractory epilepsy ( Martinez-Juarez et al, 2012 ; Tsai et al, 2021 ). The researchers injected green light-emitting nanoparticles into the hippocampus of mice ( Roet et al, 2019 ), and irradiated the cranium surface with infrared light, and found that the epileptic neurons of mice were effectively silenced ( Table 1 and Figure 3 ; Chen et al, 2018 ).…”

Decreased synapse‐associated proteins are associated with the onset of epileptic memory impairment in endothelial CDK5‐deficient mice

“…To clarify the correlation of epilepsy and memory dysfunction or dementia, a summary of all the meta‐analyses reports from epilepsy is provided in (Figure 1A ). For the correlation of epilepsy and memory dysfunction or dementia, the meta‐analysis of the five case–control studies 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 showed that the relative risk (RR) of developing memory dysfunction or dementia was 3.99 times higher (95% CI: 3.36–4.74) in epileptic cohort compared with reference cohort without epilepsy (Figure 1B ). The above analysis shows that there is a considerable intersection between epilepsy and cognitive dysfunction, adding that a better understanding of the common mechanisms in these disorders may contribute to the improvement of epileptogenesis and dementia.…”

Physical Exercise, a Potential Non-Pharmacological Intervention for Attenuating Neuroinflammation and Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

“…An interesting risk factor for AD is late-onset epilepsy where perturbed inflammation is a shared pathogenesis factor by both brain disorders [ 15 , 16 ]. A recent study on 675 persons with epilepsy, and 2025 matched control subjects, reported that epileptic persons, age 50 years or above, have a greater risk of developing dementia than people without epilepsy [ 17 ]. Neuroinflammation is also a pathogenesis factor in other brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and anxiety disorders [ 18 , 19 ].…”