Clinical characteristics of epilepsy in the elderly.

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We studied the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with epilepsy, and conducted analysis on their social adaptability.<BR>One hundred and nine patients (male 64, female 45) aged 50 years or above at the time of the study were followed up form more than 5 years. They were diagnosed as follows: symptomatic localization-related epilepsy in 79 patiens (temporal lobe epilepsy 70), idiopathic generalized epilepsy in 21, symptomatic generalized epilepsy in 5, and others in 4.<BR>The mean age at the onset was 24.7 years old, and the total duration of epilepsy was 32.6 (7-65) years, in which that of generalized epilepsy (37.1 years) was longer than that of localization-related epilepsy (31.0 years).<BR>Seizure outcome was favorable in the majority of patients, while 22% of them were found to be therapy-resistant. The majority of the refractory cases had temporal lobe epilepsy whose representative seizure type was complex partial. This agrees with the other studies hitherto reported, while it is notable that there exist some cases of idiopathic generalized epilepsy whose seizures still persist.<BR>Although the social adaptability was found to be good in most of the patients, about 10% of them required custodial care, whose handicap was not only due to epileptic seizure itself but also to physical as well as psychological impairments.
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