People who have had COVID-19 are more likely to develop seizures or epilepsy within the next six months than those who had influenza, a new UK study has shown.
Although the overall risk remains low, at under 1%, study authors say given the large numbers of people who have had COVID-19, it could result in a significant increase of people who have seizures or epilepsy.
Writing in *Neurology*, the authors from the University of Oxford say the increased risk is more noticeable in children than adults, and among individuals who were not hospitalised because of COVID-19.
Researchers examined a health records network for people with COVID-19 infections and these were matched to people who were diagnosed with influenza during the same time period and who were similar in age, sex and other factors.
There were 152,754 people in each of the COVID-19 and influenza groups, none of whom had previously been diagnosed with epilepsy or recurrent seizures.
When the team looked to see if people developed epilepsy or seizures in the following six months, individuals who had COVID-19 were 55% more likely to develop epilepsy or seizures than people who had influenza. The rate of new cases of epilepsy or seizures was 0.94% in the people who had COVID-19, compared to 0.60% in those who had influenza.
Study author Dr Arjune Sen, of the University of Oxford, said: “People should interpret these results cautiously since the overall risk is low.
“We do, however, recommend that health care professionals pay particular attention to individuals who may have more subtle features of seizures, such as focal aware seizures, where people are alert and aware of what is going on, especially in the three months following a less severe COVID-19 infection.”
Researchers say they were unable to identify which specific virus variants people were infected with, which could have influenced results.
*Neurology* 16 November 2022
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