Health outcomes in persons with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a common disorder that effects millions of persons worldwide and costs billions of dollars for direct medical care. Despite the importance of epilepsy from a public health perspective, the physiological and psychosocial outcomes from epilepsy are incompletely understood and are in some ways controversial. The paroxysmal nature and the immense social stigma of the disorder have contributed to misunderstanding of its associated health outcomes. This article reviews the issues surrounding the assessment of health outcomes from the epilepsies and the interventions used to treat recurrent seizures.