Is Status Epilepticus an Independent Risk Factor for Death?

Population studies and hospital-based series show significant short-term and long-term mortality following status epilepticus (SE). This is often ascribed to the underlying etiology, which is also the most important prognostic factor for the outcome of SE. Despite evidence from animal studies, it remains unclear whether SE per se, independent of etiology, increases mortality in humans. These researchers designed an elegant study to answer this question. From a population-based cohort of patients who experienced a first seizure between 1955 and 1984, the authors compared 10-year mortality after idiopathic/cryptogenic SE (seizures lasting >30 minutes; 16 patients) with 10-year mortality after an idiopathic/cryptogenic seizure only (291 patien…