Epilepsy and COVID-19 research in Wales is paving the way for improved care

This National Epilepsy Week (22-28 May) we’re highlighting research in Wales which aims to improve treatments and care for people living with epilepsy. 

Research led by Dr Owen Pickrell has found people with epilepsy should continue to be prioritised for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, and that they could need additional support in future pandemics. 

The study, which received funding from the Health and Care Research Wales Research Funding Scheme: Health Research Grant, aimed to discover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with epilepsy to ensure they were receiving the best possible care. 

Using data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank and working with Epilepsy Action Cymru, researchers found that if patients with epilepsy contract COVID-19 they are more likely to become severely unwell or even die. 

Dr Pickrell, who is a Consultant Neurologist and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Swansea University Medical School, said: “COVID-19 has caused significant changes in health and social care and it’s important to understand the impact it’s had on people with long-term conditions like epilepsy, which affects around 30,000 people in Wales. 

Huw Strafford, the Research Associate at Swansea University who performed the data analysis for this study, said: “should future pandemics happen, or further waves of COVID-19, we need to know if people with epilepsy are at a higher risk of hospitalisation so they can be prioritised and so we can look after them.” 

Through this research, the team also discovered that people with epilepsy were more likely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 than the general population and that hospital attendance for epilepsy-related problems significantly decreased during the pandemic. 

Dr Pickrell continued: “There are lots of things we don’t understand yet, lots of things to learn. When you see people in clinic every day and they’re having problems you want to try and get the answers for them. It’s important we use studies like this to identify what further research needs to be done. 

“Without research we wouldn’t be able to provide the care people need. There’s always something to improve on, if we didn’t have research, we’d be stagnant.” 

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