Abstract
Objective
The life expectancy (LE) would be short among persons with epilepsy. To what extent the life span is shortened is, however, controversial. Since the statistics of the LE increases year by year, we should update the ratio of expected life based on the recent data.
Methods
We searched articles on the LE and mortality of the epilepsy. Data from the literature review and the life table of Korean National Statistical Office, we proposed a scheme estimating the LE for persons with posttraumatic epilepsy.
Results
Gaitazis et al. reported the average percentage of lost LE would be 25.9% for male, 22.2% for female at 1 year after diagnosis. It would be decreased year by year, being 5.0% for male and 4.6% for female at 20 years after diagnosis. There was a significant difference between Gaitazis et al.'s data and the mean calculated LE according to the Lee's scheme. The calculated LE, applied Gaitazis et al.'s percentage to the Korean life table was more closer to Gaitazis et al.'s data. We proposed a table showing percentage of normal life expectancy lost following diagnosis of posttraumatic epilepsy using Gaitazis et al.'s table.
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