ILAE official report: a practical clinical definition of epilepsy
Open accessAbstract
Summary: Epilepsy was defined conceptually in 2005 as a disorder of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate epileptic seizures. This definition is usually practically applied as having two unprovoked seizures >24 h apart. The International League Against Epilepsy ( ILAE) accepted recommendations of a task force altering the practical definition for special circumstances that do not meet the two unprovoked seizures criteria. The task force proposed that epilepsy be considered to be a disease of the brain defined by any of the following conditions: (1) At least two unprovoked (or reflex) seizures occurring >24 h apart; (2) one unprovoked (or reflex) seizure and a probability of further seizures similar to the general recurrence risk (at least 60%) after two unprovoked seizures, occurring over the next 10 years; (3) diagnosis of an epilepsy syndrome. Epilepsy is considered to be resolved for individuals who either had an age‐dependent epilepsy syndrome but are now past the applicable age or who have remained seizure‐free for the last 10 years and off antiseizure medicines for at least the last 5 years. “Resolved” is not necessarily identical to the conventional view of “remission or “cure.” Different practical definitions may be formed and used for various specific purposes. This revised definition of epilepsy brings the term in concordance with common use. A PowerPoint slide summarizing this article is available for download in the Supporting Information section here .
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Epilepsy has significant bio-psycho-social impacts on patients with epilepsy and their families.
“Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world and it has significant bio-psycho-social impacts on patients with epilepsy and their families [1]”
From The Psychological Flexibility in Epilepsy Questionnaire (PFEQ): Psychometric properties of the Persian version (2022) · cites this paper as [1]
The “2005 report” passage describes neurobiologic, psychological, and social consequences, and “Consequences of the Practical Definition” describes stigma and other repercussions for people with epilepsy. These passages support impacts on patients, but our copy does not establish impacts on their families or the sentence’s claim that epilepsy is one of the world’s most common neurological conditions. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEpilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world.
“Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world”
From The Psychological Flexibility in Epilepsy Questionnaire (PFEQ): Psychometric properties of the Persian version (2022) · cites this paper as [1]
The Disease section describes how epilepsy is classified, and the Consequences of the Practical Definition section says the revised definition's effect on measured prevalence is unpredictable. Neither passage, nor the passages found by searching for worldwide prevalence and epidemiology, says epilepsy is among the most common neurological conditions worldwide. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Fisher, R. S., Acevedo, C., Arzimanoglou, A., Bogacz, A., Cross, J. H., Elger, C. E., Engel, J., Forsgren, L., French, J. A., Glynn, M., Hesdorffer, D. C., Lee, B. I., Mathern, G. W., Moshé, S. L., Perucca, E., Scheffer, I. E., Tomson, T., Watanabe, M., & Wiebe, S.
- Affiliations
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- SCH Past President Chilean League Against Epilepsy Santiago Chile
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (FR)
- Neurological Institute of Clinical Hospital Universidad Mayor de la República Montevideo Uruguay
- Great Ormond Street Hospital (GB)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Umeå University (SE)
- NYU Langone Health (US)
- Epilepsy Ireland (IE)
- Columbia University (US)
- Yonsei University (KR)
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- University of Pavia (IT)
- Royal Children's Hospital (AU)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Fisher, Robert S.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Epilepsia
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-04
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 475-482
- ISSN
- 0013-9580 (ISSN-L)
- 1528-1167
- OpenAlex
- W1978437325
- Cited by
- 6,108
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 568 · 2025: 666 · 2024: 725 · 2023: 665 · 2022: 598 · 2021: 622 · 2020: 577 · 2019: 483 · 2018: 410 · 2017: 334 · 2016: 235 · 2015: 162 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 199.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.escholarship.org
- Locations
- Epilepsia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Cilag
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Epilepsy research and treatment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurology and Historical Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- epilepsy, unprovoked seizures, reflex epilepsy, seizure recurrence risk, epilepsy syndromes, epilepsy remission, antiepileptic drugs
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Brain, Child, Epilepsy, Female, Humans, Male, Seizures, Societies, Medical, Advisory Committees, Young Adult, Research Report
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