Incidence of Epilepsy in Adults with Cerebral Palsy and Secondary Health Outcomes: A Review and Proposed Feasibility Study

Cerebral palsy is one of the most common chronic childhood disorders, occurring in 2-2.5 of every 1000 live births; it is a persistent disorder of movement and posture caused by non-progressive lesions of the immature brain. Epilepsy is an important problem in children with cerebral palsy, with past studies showing an average incidence of epilepsy in about one-third in cases of cerebral palsy. Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate seizures, common in patients who have other factors (such as cerebral palsy) that are associated with a very high likelihood of a persistently lowered seizure threshold and therefore a high recurrence risk. A few studies were conducted in the past analyzing the correlation of cerebral palsy and epilepsy in children; however, no study has been conducted yet evaluating the evolution of cerebral palsy in the transition from childhood to adulthood, and how the incidence, prevalence and clinical course of epilepsy change in such a time lapse. Furthermore, no studies yet evaluated the classification of seizures in this adult population, their correlations to cerebral palsy and its degrees of severity, and associated secondary health conditions, causing epidemiological data to be lacking in that regard. This aim of this manuscript is to introduce to the reader the current evidence regarding epilepsy in adults with cerebral palsy, as well as present recommendations for future research.