Men who take antiseizure medications for epilepsy have higher rates of psychiatric comorbidities and erectile dysfunction, but do not face a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes or conceiving a child with neurodevelopmental disorders, according to a study out of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Epilepsy specialists may need to tackle some unnecessary anxiety among their patients, many of whom were misled in mid-March when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included epilepsy on a list of conditions that might predispose to worse symptoms of COVID-19.

As more health interventions move to a virtual platform because of COVID-19, researchers have reported that virtual interactions in a program designed to help epilepsy patients self-manage cognitive dysfunction didn’t improve patient outcomes to the extent that in-person office visits did.

Veterans with epilepsy or conversion disorder are at higher risk for death by suicide, suicide attempt, and suicidal ideation than those with other chronic disorders, according to an analysis presented at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.

It’s no surprise that people with epilepsy are more likely to suffer from depression. But the reverse is also true to an unusual extent, a conundrum that makes researchers think beyond which came first: Just how tightly are these two conditions intertwined?

Each year, about one in every thousand people with epilepsy will die suddenly, usually during sleep and immediately following a seizure.

The incidence of new-onset seizures in the elderly population is increasing. With comparatively few studies of new-onset seizures in the elderly, and no specific guideline for treating elderly patients with seizures, physicians are challenged to determine the best treatment approaches for these patients.