Epilepsy in Australia

Epilepsy hospitalisations

There were about 31,400 hospitalisations associated with epilepsy in 2018–19. Two-thirds (66%) had epilepsy recorded as the principal diagnosis and 34% had epilepsy recorded as an additional diagnosis. Hospitalisations associated with epilepsy accounted for 0.3% of all hospitalisations in Australia in 2018–19.

The hospitalisations data presented here are based on admitted patient episodes of care, and may include multiple hospitalisation events experienced by the same individual.

Age and sex

In 2018–19, epilepsy hospitalisation rates (where epilepsy was the principal diagnosis) were:

• higher in males than females across all age groups, but particularly between the ages of 20 and 79
• highest among people aged 0–4 years (132 and 125 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and females, respectively) (Figure 5.1a).

Figure 5.1a: Rate of epilepsy hospitalisations (principal diagnosis), by age group and sex, 2018–19

Rates of hospitalisations with epilepsy (hospitalisations where epilepsy is a principal and/or additional diagnosis) (Figure 5.1b) showed a different age pattern than hospitalisations due to epilepsy (hospitalisations where epilepsy is the principal diagnosis only – as presented above). Rates of hospitalisations with epilepsy were highest in the 85+ age group (175 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for females and 221 per 100,000 population for males) (Figure 5.1b). The differences between the two age breakdowns (Figure 5.1a & Figure 5.1b) indicate that hospitalisations where epilepsy is an additional diagnosis (a coexisting condition to the principal diagnosis or a condition arising during hospitalisation that affects patient management) made up a relatively larger proportion of hospitalisations in the 85+ age group for both men and women.

In 2018–19, epilepsy hospitalisation rates (where epilepsy was the principal and/or additional diagnosis) were:

• higher for males than females from age 35–39 and over
• highest among people aged 85+ (221 and 175 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and females, respectively) (Figure 5.1b).

Figure 5.1b: Rate of epilepsy hospitalisations (principal and/or additional diagnosis), by age group and sex, 2018–19

Variation between population groups

In 2018–19, rates of hospitalisations with epilepsy (where epilepsy was the principal and/or additional diagnosis) varied by remoteness and increased with socioeconomic disadvantage. Rates were:

• overall 1.3 times as high in Very remote areas compared with Major cities. However, for women, rates were higher in Major cities compared with Very remote areas (117 and 101 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, respectively). For men, rates were 1.7 times as high in Very remote areas compared with Major cities (213 and 128 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, respectively)
• 1.8 times as high among those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas compared with those living in the highest socioeconomic areas. This difference was smaller for females than males. For women, rates were more than 1.5 times as high among those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas as those living in the highest socioeconomic areas (159 and 85 hospitalisations per 100,000, respectively). For men, rates were 1.9 times as high among those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas as those living in the highest socioeconomic areas (193 and 99 per 100,000, respectively) (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2: Rates of epilepsy hospitalisations (principal and/or additional diagnosis), by remoteness and socioeconomic area, 2018–19

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

In 2018–19, there were around 3,000 hospitalisations where epilepsy was the principal and/or additional diagnosis among Indigenous Australians.

After adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations, the hospitalisation rate among Indigenous Australians was:

• over three times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians (390 and 113 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, respectively)
• higher among males than females (490 and 297 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, respectively).

Emergency department presentations

In 2018–19 there were over 20,700 emergency department (ED) presentations with a principal diagnosis of epilepsy (Figure 5.3), with 54% of these ED presentations going on to be admitted to a hospital. The rates of ED presentations were:

• higher in males than females (92.4 and 72.4 presentations per 100,000 population respectively)
• higher in younger groups, with the highest being males aged 20–24 and females aged 15–19 (122 and 120 presentations per 100,000 population respectively).

The majority of ED presentations were triaged as urgent (seen within 30 minutes) across both the male and female populations.  A small proportion of ED presentations required resuscitation (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3: Rates of epilepsy emergency department presentations (principal diagnosis), by age group, sex and triage category, 2018–19