Economic Burden and Cost Analysis of Epilepsy

Epilepsy imposes a considerable economic burden on individuals, health systems and societies worldwide. Direct medical costs encompass expenditures on hospital admissions, emergency care, specialist consultations, diagnostic investigations and antiseizure medications. Indirect costs arise from lost productivity, absenteeism, premature mortality and the reliance on informal caregivers. The financial impact varies by disease severity, treatment response and regional health-care financing arrangements. Drug-resistant epilepsy, affecting up to 40 per cent of people with the condition, drives especially high expenditures through recurrent hospitalisations, polytherapy and long-term disability. Beyond quantifying costs, economic analyses increasingly incorporate measures of health-related quality of life to capture the broader social and personal consequences of seizures. Cost-effectiveness studies and budget-impact models guide resource allocation, inform reimbursement decisions and highlight gaps in coverage, particularly in low- and middle-income settings. As novel treatments and service delivery models emerge, robust cost analysis is essential to ensure equitable access and sustainable care.

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Economic Burden and Cost Analysis of Epilepsy publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in economic burden and cost analysis of epilepsy across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Direct costs: Expenditures on medical services, hospital stays, diagnostics and medications attributable to epilepsy management.

Indirect costs: Economic losses resulting from reduced work productivity, absenteeism, premature mortality and caregiving demands.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL): A multidimensional measure of physical, emotional and social well-being influenced by a health condition.

Drug-resistant epilepsy: A form of epilepsy in which seizures persist despite trials of two or more appropriate antiseizure medications.

Antiseizure medication (ASM): Pharmacological agents used to prevent or reduce the frequency and severity of epileptic seizures.

References

1. Clinical and economic implications of epilepsy management across treatment lines in Spain: a real-life database analysis. Journal of Neurology (2023).
2. The burden of epilepsy and unmet need in people with focal seizures. Brain and Behavior (2022).
3. Burden of illness in people with medically refractory epilepsy who suffer from daily to weekly seizures: 12-month follow-up of participants in the EPISODE study. Frontiers in Neurology (2022).
4. The economic impact of epilepsy: a systematic review. BMC Neurology (2015).