One hundred years of electroencephalography . . . and other stories

Abstract

Data from nearly 30 000 participants in a Canadian longitudinal study of ageing suggest that people with epilepsy are around twice as likely to experience cardiovascular events (stroke, transient ischaemic attack, or myocardial infarction) as people of similar age without epilepsy ( JAMA Neurol doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3210). Exposure to drugs such as carbamazepine, phenytoin, and primidone, which induce cytochrome P450 enzymes, might be part of the explanation. This year marks the centenary of the first human electroencephalography (EEG) recording, made in 1924 by the German psychiatrist Hans Berger. EEG has made a substantial contribution to the diagnosis and classification of sleep disorders and epilepsy, but it hasn’t revolutionised neurology in …