Characteristics of an advanced epilepsy treatment gap in a region in Japan

To investigate the quality of epilepsy care in a region in Japan that lacked specialised care, we retrospectively evaluated patients who visited our newly established epilepsy division between April 2018 and March 2021, and had been treated with anti-seizure medications (ASMs) for at least 1 year prior.

Of the 231 patients included, 169 had ongoing seizure episodes at first visit (seizure-persist group) and 62 had no seizure episodes for more than a year (seizure-free group). Eighty-three patients in the seizure-persist group had not received specialised epilepsy care, 15 had been treated with unnecessary medications, and seven had experienced side effects from ASMs. Twelve patients in the seizure-free group had been treated with unnecessary ASMs, 10 had been treated with ASMs with teratogenic potential and four had experienced ASM side effects. These patients could be classified as having an advanced epilepsy treatment gap (ETG) because they had not previously received necessary specialised care. The progressive decline in the number of patients with advanced ETG suggests that our new epilepsy division has addressed this issue.

This study highlights that a significant number of patients with advanced ETGs exist in Japan and that proper countermeasures are required to address this gap.