Risk factors for epilepsy include:

• Babies who are small for their gestational age
• Babies who have seizures in the first month of life
• Babies who are born with abnormal brain structures
• Bleeding into the brain
• Abnormal blood vessels in the brain
• Serious brain injury or lack of oxygen to the brain
• Brain tumors
• Infections of the brain: abscess, meningitis, or encephalitis
• Stroke resulting from blockage of arteries
• Cerebral palsy
• Mental handicap
• Seizures occurring within days after head injury ("early posttraumatic seizures")
• Family history of epilepsy or fever-related seizures
• Alzheimer's disease (late in the illness)
• Fever-related (febrile) seizures that are unusually long
• Use of illegal drugs such as cocaine

Mild head injuries, such as a concussion with just a very brief loss of consciousness, do not cause epilepsy.

I don't think any of those risk factors apply to me!

Although the disorders and injuries on these lists help to explain many cases of epilepsy, more people with epilepsy don't have any of these factors apparent in their medical history. Often we just don't know how epilepsy gets started.

Even though you may not know the cause of your epilepsy, you can help yourself by looking for factors (often called "triggers") that seem to make your seizures more frequent or more severe and then avoid them altogether or atleast reduce their effects.

Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, M.D.
Last Reviewed:12/15/06

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