European Researchers Discover Possible Connection between Epilepsy and Type-1 Diabetes

EpilepsyUSA staff
Posted: July 20, 2006

A study published recently in the medical journal Annals of Neurology reports researchers have found a possible association between type-1 diabetes and prevalent idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Idiopathic generalized epilepsy occurs in about 30 percent of all patients with epilepsy.

The study compared the "population prevalence of type-1 diabetes" in patients aged 15 to 30 to 518 15- to 30-year-old patients with prevalent idiopathic generalized epilepsy. The results showed the prevalence of type-1 diabetes is about four times more likely in young adults with idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

"Epilepsy is comorbid with many other conditions and now type-1 diabetes can be added to the list," said Dale Hesdorffer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University and a member of the Epilepsy Foundation's professional advisory board. "In this study, type-1 diabetes was found in only 1.3 percent of prevalent idiopathic generalized epilepsy, yet the association between the two disorders was strong. Interestingly, in the seven patients with both disorders, diabetes preceded the onset of epilepsy in six, but only one patient had a family history for either disorder. This suggests the association is unlikely to be genetic and further studies are needed to understand the reasons for this association."