ANTISEIZURE medicine shortages had been linked to extra seizure-related emergency visits and seizure clusters amongst adults with epilepsy.
Antiseizure Remedy Shortages and Emergency Care
Shortages of outpatient antiseizure medicine could also be inserting extra strain on emergency companies, in line with a retrospective examine of adults with epilepsy presenting to a public hospital emergency division in Bogotá, Colombia. Investigators in contrast seizure-related emergency division visits throughout March to Could 2023, when no scarcity was reported, with the identical interval in 2024, when shortages had been ongoing.
A complete of 281 sufferers had been included, comprising 107 sufferers in 2023 and 174 in 2024. Amongst these admissions, 61 had been instantly associated to lack of outpatient antiseizure medicine, rising from 7 circumstances in 2023 to 54 in 2024. Emergency division visits attributed to antiseizure medicine unavailability elevated from 6.5% to 31%, representing a major enhance throughout the scarcity interval. The reported odds ratio was 6.4, with a 95% confidence interval of two.7 to 17.4.
Better Threat of Seizure Clusters
Sufferers affected by antiseizure medicine shortages had been additionally extra more likely to expertise seizure clusters. The percentages ratio for seizure clusters was 2.43, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.2 to five.1, suggesting that disruption to outpatient entry might have fast scientific penalties past a easy enhance in displays. The authors additionally noticed a pattern towards longer hospital stays in sufferers affected by shortages.
Regardless of the rise in seizure-related emergency visits and the upper threat of seizure clusters, mortality and ICU admissions didn’t differ between the 2 examine intervals. Even so, the findings recommend that antiseizure medicine shortages can worsen seizure management and enhance hospital burden, even when probably the most extreme outcomes stay unchanged.
Implications for Epilepsy Administration
The authors concluded that steady outpatient entry to antiseizure medicine is crucial for sustaining seizure management and avoiding preventable issues in epilepsy care. They famous that efficient nationwide distribution and monitoring methods could also be mandatory to cut back remedy interruptions and restrict avoidable emergency division use. For clinicians, the findings reinforce how carefully medicine entry, adherence, and acute seizure threat could also be linked when provide disruptions happen.
Reference
Espinosa-Jovel C et al. Penalties of outpatient antiseizure medicine shortages within the emergency division. Epileptic Disord. 2026;DOI:10.1002/epd2.70223.
