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Review
. 2016 Jun 17:12:1425-34.
doi: 10.2147/NDT.S107905. eCollection 2016.

The causes of new-onset epilepsy and seizures in the elderly

Shasha Liu  1 , Weihua Yu  2 , Yang Lü  1
Affiliations
Review

The causes of new-onset epilepsy and seizures in the elderly

Shasha Liu et al. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. .

Abstract

With increasing age, the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy and seizures increases correspondingly. New-onset epilepsy in elderly people often has underlying etiology, including cerebrovascular diseases, primary neuron degenerative disorders, intracerebral tumors, and traumatic head injury. In addition, an acute symptomatic seizure cannot be called epilepsy, which manifests usually as a common symptom secondary to metabolic or toxicity factors in older people. In this review, we have mainly focused on the causes of new-onset epilepsy and seizures in elderly people. This knowledge will certainly help us to understand the reasons for high incidences of epilepsy and seizures in elderly people. We look forward to controlling epileptic seizures via the treatment of primary diseases in the future.

Keywords: causes; elderly; epilepsy; seizures.

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