Diagnosis and Treatment of Epilepsy in Elderly People

Objectives: Diagnosis & treatment of diseases in elderly people needs especial capabilities. There is no exception for epilepsy in this regard. According to different researches, high incidence of convulsion in elderly people is growing. On the other hand, growing of age in (human) societies results in increasing the number of elderly persons. Methods & Materials: In recent years, our country have encountered with this problem, that is , growing of old age population. Overlooking of this problem makes many difficulties in the future. Incidence of epilepsy in elderly (>80 years old) is 140/100000. Diagnosis of this disease is so important in elderly people because different problems like Transient Ischemic Attack (T.I.A), cardiovascular problem, transient confusion in patients with dementia, neurogenic syncope, Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) can be mimic or feign by it. Sometimes the picture of symptoms is different between young and old persons, even may be appeared as Non-Convulsive Status Epileptics (NCSE). On the other hand, senile changes that cause epilepsy in the elderly must be further studied. Results: Treatment and selection of drug in the elderly need special considerations. Different changes such as metabolic one, change in brain tolerance to drugs and side effects, change in function of organs of body associated diseases and consumption of various drugs at the same time, make many challenges during the treatment process. Conclusion: Fortunately, knowledge about the importance of epilepsy in the elderly recently has increased. Nowadays, senile affairs and the problem of elderly people is looked as an important event and consequently there is hope that in near future the knowledge and understanding about effective factors regarding epilepsy in elderly persons; such as senile changes of brain and its effect on epilepsy will expand and increase.