Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

News Roundup [abridged Versions Appear In The Paper Journal]

Epilepsy is misdiagnosed in 90 000 people a year in England and Wales

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.333.7573.824-a (Published 19 October 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:824

Rapid Response:

Repercussions of the Misdiagnosis

Editor

Misdiagnosis of any disease condition is devastating for the patient.
Not to say if it’s something with so much stigma attached to it. As shown
by the Holton case (i) the impact can be expensive as well.

Approximately 456,000 people are diagnosed with epilepsy in the UK.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) have acknowledged in
their review on Epilepsy in Dec 2003(ii) that the rate of misdiagnosis of
epilepsy in the UK is between 20 – 31%. This accounts for nearly 91,000
and 141,000 being misdiagnosed and taking the antiepileptic medication
having to bear with all their adverse effects(iii).

When NICE guidelines tell us to refer to specialists, we should
remember that one of the most under estimated cause of misdiagnosis of
epilepsy is over reading of EEGs as says Dr. Benbadis ,Associate
Professor of in the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.

(i) BMJ. 2001 December 8; 323(7325): 1323.

(ii) Press Release 27 January 2006: Epilepsy action’s Response to Dr
Holton hearing

(iii) The Clinical Guidelines and Evidence Review for the Epilepsies: the
evidence base for The epilepsies: diagnosis and management of the
epilepsies in adults and children. National Institute for Clinical
Excellence guideline (2004).: Appendix G - Costs of epilepsy misdiagnosis,
first consultation

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

22 October 2006
Sherin Jos Payyappilly
F2 Palliative Care
Deepu Abraham :GP Registrar Northern Deanery
St Clares Hospice , Jarrow NE32 5HA