Who is driving and who is prone to have traffic accidents? A systematic review and meta-analysis among people with seizures

Living safely with epilepsy: a key learning review

“…While GTCS are associated with a higher risk of severe injury in this setting, seizures of any type and duration of loss of awareness can have a variable impact on the ability to drive (Chen et al, 2014) and thus, a range of consequences. In theory, having a warning should allow PWE to pull off the road before an impending seizure, assuming motor function is not impaired at the initial stage of the seizure, however, whether auras in general make driving safer is still unclear (Xu et al, 2019). Regarding the reasons underlying driving in persons with active epilepsy, occupational needs and lack/paucity of alternatives for transportation were the most frequently cited, although self-esteem and social and family needs have also been mentioned (Elliott and Long, 2008).…”

“…Additionally, individual characteristics, such as history of SRIs, adherence to treatment and neurological comorbidities, must be taken into account in order to determine a personal risk profile that should be combined with the evaluation of risks for each particular sport. According to the intrinsic risks of injuries or even death, sports have been categorized into three main groups (Capovilla et al, 2016) (table 1). Controversies remain on the risk allocation for some sports, such as boxing (for which neurology associations had proposed a general ban, although non-specific risks for PWE have been demonstrated) or shooting.…”

“…Living safely with epilepsy Table 1. Recommendations regarding physical activity for epilepsy patients, according to clinical status and sport-related level of risk; based on the ILAE Task Force on Sports and Epilepsy report (Capovilla et al, 2016).…”

“…While GTCS are associated with a higher risk of severe injury in this setting, seizures of any type and duration of loss of awareness can have a variable impact on the ability to drive (Chen et al ., 2014) and thus, a range of consequences. In theory, having a warning should allow PWE to pull off the road before an impending seizure, assuming motor function is not impaired at the initial stage of the seizure, however, whether auras in general make driving safer is still unclear (Xu et al ., 2019).…”

EEG in fitness to drive evaluations in people with epilepsy — Considerable variations across Europe

“…Several studies have indicated that active epilepsy is associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents [1][2][3][4][5][6]. People with epilepsy (PWE) consider driving issues to be one of the concerns with the most impact on quality of life [1,7], and a balance needs to be achieved between society's need for traffic safety and patients' wish for autonomy and independence by being able to hold a driving license.…”