Seizure Disorder: Statistics
More than two million people in the United States -- about 1 in 150 -- have experienced an unprovoked
seizure or been diagnosed with a
seizure disorder. For about 80 percent of those diagnosed with a seizure disorder, seizures can be controlled with modern medicines and surgical techniques.
However, about 20 percent of people with a seizure disorder will continue to experience seizures even with the best available treatment. Doctors call this situation intractable
epilepsy. Having a seizure does not necessarily mean that a person has a seizure disorder. Only when a person has had two or more seizures is he or she considered to have a seizure disorder.
Seizure Disorder: Summary
Many people with a seizure disorder lead productive and outwardly normal lives. Medical and research advances in the past two decades have led to a better understanding of seizure disorders. Advanced brain scans and other techniques allow greater accuracy in diagnosing a seizure disorder and determining when a patient may be helped by surgery.
Research on the underlying causes of a seizure disorder, including identification of genes for some forms of a seizure disorder and
febrile seizures, has led to a greatly improved understanding of these conditions that may lead to more effective treatments or even new ways of preventing seizure disorders in the future.
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