Meta-analysis of the risk of dementia in elderly patients with late-onset epilepsy

Abstract

Although available literature indicates a high risk of dementia in elderly patients with late-onset epilepsy (LOE), the findings are yet inconsistent and relevant risk factors are unclear, rendering rational clinical interpretation rather challenging. This article systematically evaluates the risk of dementia in elderly LOE patients. The potential risk factors were analyzed to provide a specific basis for clinical prediction of dementia. PubMed and web of science databases were searched for the published cohort studies of dementia in elderly LOE patients. The search results were subject to a meta-analysis with Stata16.0 statistical software. Seven articles were included for a comparison of dementia risk between epilepsy cases and controls, yielding a hazard ration (HR) of 2.1 (95 %CI：1.6～2.75，p = 0.00); dementia was more prevalent in female patients than in male counterparts, though without a statistical difference [1.2 % (95 %CI, 0.9 %-1.6 %) vs. 0.8 % (95 %CI, 0.5 %-1.1 %)]; compared with the non-LOE group, the LOE population reported a significantly higher incidence of diabetes mellitus [14.1 % (95 %CI, 12.8 %-15.4 %) vs. 10.9 % (95 %CI, 10.1 %-11 %), p < 0.01]. The findings suggest that elderly patients with late-onset epilepsy run a higher risk of dementia than non-epileptic patients and diabetes mellitus may serve as a potential risk factor for dementia in this elderly populace.

Keywords: Dementia; Late-onset epilepsy; Meta-analysis.