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A large Latin American study found that the leading causes of active epilepsy in adults were structural, while about one-third of cases had no clear cause. The study also found that neurocysticercosis was a relatively uncommon cause overall, challenging older assumptions about epilepsy in the region.
For the study, researchers, including MPH student Olga Cuero-Vidal and Associate Professor Elizabeth Kelvin, analyzed data from 3,033 adults with active epilepsy from 12 tertiary hospitals in seven Latin American countries between 2019 and 2023. Structural etiologies accounted for 47% of cases, followed by genetic causes at 10.5% and infectious causes at 5.4%, while etiology remained unknown in 35%. The most common structural causes were hippocampal sclerosis, malformations of cortical development, and stroke.
The findings varied by country and age, with structural causes more common in older adults and genetic causes more frequent when epilepsy began in childhood. Researchers said the results point to the need for updated, region-specific data and population-based studies to better understand epilepsy causes across Latin America.
“While structural causes were the most common identified cause in our study, we were struck by how many patients still had no clear etiology,” says Cuero-Vidal. “That tells us we need better access to region-specific diagnostics and more population-based research to understand epilepsy patterns across Latin America.”
