Socio-economic impact on epilepsy outside of the nation-wide COVID-19 pandemic area.

Abstract Objective To identify people with epilepsy (PWE) who required extensive care before the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that had world-wide impacts on medical care and on socio-economic conditions. Methods Consecutive PWE who were treated at the epilepsy center of Hiroshima University Hospital, which was located in the COVID-19 non-pandemic area, between March 2019 and August 2020 were enrolled. We evaluated clinical and socioeconomic factors that were associated with seizure exacerbation (an increase in seizure frequency) during the first 6 months after the COVID-19 pandemic started compared with the previous 6 months. Results Among the 196 PWE who were evaluated (mean age was 37.8 ± 16.2 years), there were 33 PWE (16.8%) whose seizure frequency had increased after the pandemic began. People with epilepsy with a seizure increase showed a significant association with living alone (p  Conclusions Even in the non-pandemic area, PWE had seizure exacerbation, suggesting that clinicians should screen patients’ mental health before the outbreak to provide care, reduce the burden, and prevent social isolation in PWE. This should be addressed particularly in patients with medically refractory seizures with insomnia who live alone.