Epilepsy Doubles Suicide Risk

Epilepsy doubles the risk for suicide, according to a large case-control study published early online in Lancet Neurology.
Danish researchers identified some 450,000 people with data in five national health and socioeconomic registries. Even after differences in psychiatric history and socioeconomic status were taken into account, the risk for suicide among patients with epilepsy was twice that of people without epilepsy.
Overall, suicide risk was highest among those with both epilepsy and a history of psychiatric disease, particularly affective disorders. In addition, suicide risk was highest in the first 6 months after epilepsy diagnosis and decreased with increasing age, both among those with and those without psychiatric comorbidities.
The authors conclude that patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy "require special attention" to identify and treat those at risk for suicide.
[Editor's note: Although Lancet Neurology has released this article from embargo, it has not posted the article on its website. Rather than delay coverage while awaiting that posting, we have provided a link to the Lancet's early-release page, where the article will eventually appear.]