Seizure freedom

Aim for seizure freedom

Seizure freedom without intolerable adverse effects is patients’ main goal of epilepsy treatment and remains essential to the patient’s quality of life.¹

The impact of uncontrolled seizures on patient health is high. Compared with being seizure free, patients with uncontrolled seizures (one or more seizures within the past five years) are:^2*

• >6x more likely to have depression
• 4.5x more likely to be prevented from driving
• >2x more likely to experience stigma in their daily lives
• 3x more likely to have poorer health^†
• ~2x as likely to have limited education
• ~3x more likely to have restrictions in employment

In a large, multicentre study of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, health-related quality of life was not influenced by reductions in seizure frequency that did not achieve seizure freedom.³
The ultimate goal in epilepsy therapy should be freedom from seizures without adverse events.⁴

The ultimate goal in epilepsy therapy should be freedom from seizures without adverse events.⁴

^{*Data from the Survey of Living with Neurological Conditions in Canada (SLNCC). Figures are odds ratios, adjusted for age and sex.2}

^{†Measured using the Health Utility Index, an assessment of health status and quality of life in eight domains (hearing, vision, speech, mobility, dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain).2}

The unmet need and treatment challenges

Freedom from seizures without side effects can be considered the most clinically relevant outcome of epilepsy therapy.⁴

Despite the impact of uncontrolled seizures on the health and quality of life of people with epilepsy,^2,3 an estimated 36% of people with epilepsy continue to have seizures, even with advances in therapy.⁵

Managing the risks of continuing seizures to the health and lives of these people, and helping them maintain their quality of life, can represent a major challenge for the clinician and care team.