Risk of COVID-19 Infection and of Severe Complications Among People With Epilepsy

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesThe goal of this work was to evaluate whether patients with epilepsy were more susceptible to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and at greater risk of severe complications when infected with COVID-19 compared with patients without epilepsy.MethodsWe included participants who underwent at least 1 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 real-time reverse-transcription PCR test between January 1 and June 4, 2020, from the Korean nationwide COVID-19 dataset. Epilepsy was defined according to the presence of diagnostic code in health claims data before the COVID-19 diagnosis. To investigate the association between epilepsy and the susceptibility for or severe complications of COVID-19, a 1:6 ratio propensity score matching (PSM) and logistic regression analysis were performed. Severe complications with COVID-19 infection were defined as a composite of the incidence of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, and death within 2 months after COVID-19 diagnosis.ResultsAmong 212,678 study participants who underwent a COVID-19 test, 3,919 (1.8%) had a history of epilepsy. After PSM, there was no significant difference in COVID-19 PCR positivity according to epilepsy history (odds ratio [OR] 0.86, 95% CI 0.67–1.11). Of the 7,713 individuals with confirmed COVID-19 infection, 72 (0.9%) had a history of epilepsy. Among the patients with COVID-19, severe complications occurred in 444 (5.8%) individuals. After PSM, the presence of epilepsy was associated with the occurrence of severe complications after COVID-19 infection (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.04–4.04). Mortality after COVID-19 infection did not differ according to the presence of epilepsy history (OR 1.55, 95% CI 0.65–3.70).DiscussionThe presence of epilepsy was not associated with increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection or mortality related to the infection. However, there was an increased risk of severe complications with COVID-19 in patients with epilepsy; therefore, careful management and monitoring may be necessary.