3–4×
Seizures are more common
People with dementia are about three to four times as likely to have seizures as people of the same age without it.
Zhao 2022 · Zhao 2021 · Imfeld 2013 · Costa 2024
See the evidenceEvidence Map
Seizures in dementia: what the research shows, and what no one has asked.
The Dementia-Seizure Evidence Map analyzes every study on seizures in dementia against one consistent framework: dementia type, care setting and the observable signs described in the DSS domains. It brings the evidence together to show where findings converge, where the evidence is thin or missing, and how the studies build on one another. It is maintained as new research is published.
Three things the research shows
36 of 52
Many possible seizures can’t be judged
When caregivers reported a possible seizure, specialists reviewing the records could not tell whether it was one in 36 of 52 cases.
Scarmeas 2009
See the evidenceWhy this map exists
Seizures in dementia are easy to miss. Many look like a pause, a stare or a sudden change in behavior, and are taken for the dementia itself. The research is scattered across journals and defines seizures in different ways. This map brings it together in one place, coded the same way, so the evidence and its gaps can be seen whole.
Findings
How often seizures occur, what they look like, and how they are found and treated.
Read the findingsGaps
The questions few or no studies have answered, and the research the field calls for.
See the gapsPapers
Every paper in the map. Search, or choose a dementia type to narrow it down.
Explore the papersHow seizures can appear in each dementia type is explained in the Subtype Atlas.