Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures. Clusters of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain sometimes signal abnormally and cause a person to have seizures. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide, affecting 50 million persons, including an estimated 2.2 million persons in the United States
1 Of the 2.2 million, 316, 000 are children and youth aged 14 and younger. Every year, approximately 50, 000 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed in children and adolescents under the age of 18. To be diagnosed with epilepsy, a child must have had more than one seizure that was not caused by another treatable condition .
Epilepsy affects every child differently depending on age, types of seizures, response to treatment and whether or not the child has other health issues, etc. For some, the seizures are easily controlled with medicine and eventually outgrown. For others, epilepsy can create difficult challenges throughout their lives.
Epilepsy Action, 2013
Global Campaign Against Epilepsy, 2011
