The NICE epilepsy clinical guideline covers the diagnosis, treatment and management of epilepsy in children, young people, adults and older people. The guideline makes recommendations for treatment and care provided by GPs and by specialists.
It also makes recommendations about when someone should be referred to a specialist centre (a clinic or unit with particular experience and expertise in investigations or treatment of epilepsy that is difficult to diagnose or treat – sometimes called a tertiary centre). Special considerations concerning the care of women with epilepsy and people with learning disabilities are covered.
Updated guidelines
In February 2016, we updated this guideline to link to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) toolkit to ensure female patients are better informed about the risks of taking valproate during pregnancy.
Epilepsy has been estimated to affect between 362,000 and 415,000 people in England
What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterised by recurring seizures. Different types of epilepsy have different causes. Accurate estimates of incidence and prevalence are difficult to achieve because identifying people who may have epilepsy is difficult. Epilepsy has been estimated to affect between 362,000 and 415,000 people in England. In addition, there will be further individuals, estimated to be 5–30%, so amounting to up to another 124,500 people, who have been diagnosed with epilepsy, but in whom the diagnosis is incorrect. Incidence is estimated to be 50 per 100,000 per year and the prevalence of active epilepsy in the UK is estimated to be 5–10 cases per 1000.
Two-thirds of people with active epilepsy have their epilepsy controlled satisfactorily with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). Other approaches may include surgery. Optimal management improves health outcomes and can also help to minimise other, often detrimental, impacts on social, educational and employment activity. The epilepsies (NICE clinical guideline 20) stated that the annual estimated cost of established epilepsies was £2 billion (direct and indirect costs).
You can read the full guideline on NICE's website.