Blog

Individuals with epilepsy have a mortality rate two to three times that of the general population.[1] Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is an important category of epilepsy related death.[2] In young adults the incidence of sudden death in those with epilepsy is 24 times that of control populations, with SUDEP responsible for the deaths of young people in their prime and at their most economically productive.[3] Recognition of the lethal potential of epilepsy is not a new finding, with physicians describing such deaths in the nineteenth century.[4] Indeed the description of the death of Martha Custis the stepdaughter of George Washington suggests that this was a case of SUDEP.[5]