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Issues in Clinical Epileptology: A View from the Bench pp 265–271Cite as

What Epilepsy Comorbidities Are Important to Model in the Laboratory? Clinical Perspectives

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 813))

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a focus on studies of comorbidity in epilepsy. The concept of epilepsy comorbidity is complex. This is partly because epilepsy is essentially a symptom for which there are many underlying causes, with multiple genetic and environmental influences. These causal conditions themselves carry comorbidities which vary from condition to condition. The fact that some psychiatric comorbidities are ‘bidirectional’ complicates this further. These issues reduce the usefulness of any unitary study of ‘epilepsy comorbidity’. Epilepsy comorbidities can be divided into direct/indirect and somatic/psychiatric categories. Only some aspects are susceptible to experimental modeling. This chapter briefly reviews the clinical studies of cause, frequency, epidemiology and mortality of comorbidities, and their use as biomarkers for epilepsy.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the many discussions he has had with Professor Philip Schwartzkroin, when both were co-Editors-in-Chief of Epilepsia between 2005 and 2013, which have enriched his knowledge and understanding of all aspects of epilepsy. Other AcknowledgementsThis work was undertaken at UCLH/UCL which receives a proportion of funding from the Department of Health’s NIHR Biomedical Research Centres funding scheme. The author has no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCL Institute of Neurology. Box 5, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK

    Simon Shorvon

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  1. Simon Shorvon
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Correspondence to Simon Shorvon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Child & Adoles. Psych., Phys. & Neurosc., and Psych., New York Univ. Langone Med. Ctr., Orangeburg, New York, USA

    Helen E. Scharfman

  2. Dept. of Comp. Med. and Neurol. & Neurol. Scs., Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Paul S. Buckmaster

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Shorvon, S. (2014). What Epilepsy Comorbidities Are Important to Model in the Laboratory? Clinical Perspectives. In: Scharfman, H., Buckmaster, P. (eds) Issues in Clinical Epileptology: A View from the Bench. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 813. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8914-1_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8914-1_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8913-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8914-1

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