Timely Attendance at a First-Seizure Clinic Tied to Future Acute Healthcare Use

First-seizure clinics (FSCs) can reduce time to diagnosis and treatment for patients who experience an event concerning for seizure. To understand if FSC attendance affects subsequent healthcare use and to identify factors contributing to FSC attendance, a retrospective cohort study linked patients with scheduled appointments in FSCs of two major metropolitan public hospitals in Melbourne, Australia, between 2007 and 2018 with clinicodemographic variables and subsequent healthcare use outcomes derived from statewide administrative databases between 2000 and 2021. The primary outcome was all-cause and seizure-related emergency department (ED) presentations or hospital admissions.

Of 10,162 patients with FSC appointments, 9392 were successfull…