The incidence of injuries in persons with and without epilepsy—A population‐based study

Summary Purpose: To compare the 1‐year population‐based incidence and types of injuries in persons with and without epilepsy. Methods: Three administrative databases (inpatient visits, physician claims, and emergency room visits) were linked from fiscal years 1996–2003 using a provincial insurance plan registry, which captures 99% of a population of 1.4 million in a large Canadian health region. Epilepsy cases (all age groups) from fiscal year 1996–2002 were identified. Three people without epilepsy were matched to one person with epilepsy for age (±1 year) and sex. Injuries were defined as any of 16 types of injuries for which medical attention was sought that occurred within fiscal year 2003. Results: Eight thousand eight hundred ninety subjects with epilepsy were identified and matched to 26,670 controls for age and sex. The mean age was 37.4 years (range 0.01–96.4 years), and 51.3% of subjects were male. The 1‐year incidence of one or more injuries was 20.6% among persons with epilepsy and 16.1% among those without epilepsy (p