Significant delays in focal epilepsy diagnosis identified

Significantly longer delays to diagnosis are seen in childhood-onset versus adult-onset focal epilepsy, according to new findings presented at AES 2021. Adolescents with focal epilepsy waited nearly a year to be diagnosed.

Researchers from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in New York, USA, performed a retrospective analysis of data from the international multicenter Human Epilepsy Project.

They identified 444 subjects aged 12 years or older within 4 months of diagnosis of focal epilepsy. The duration of seizures prior to diagnosis was recorded at enrollment into the Project.