Epilepsy: mortality data
Epilepsy was certified as the underlying cause in 135 deaths in Scotland in 2023 (Table 1).
Chart 1 shows the number of epilepsy deaths in Scotland between 2008 and 2023. Although there are a relatively small number of deaths, there has been an overall upward trend over the last 15 years, with typically higher numbers of deaths in males than females. 2022 is an anomaly to this trend where there were more female epilepsy deaths recorded than male. This anomaly coincides with being the year with the highest epilepsy deaths (144) since 2008. The number of epilepsy deaths reduced to 135 in 2023 and once again there were more male deaths than female.
Table 1: Deaths from epilepsy or status epilepticus, Scotland 2023
| Epilepsy (1) | Status Epilepticus (2) | |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 67 | 12 |
| Female | 45 | 11 |
| Both sexes combined | 112 | 23 |
(1) Based on ICD10 code G40; excludes status epilepticus; (2) A form of epilepsy characterised by continuous and uncontrolled seizures; statistics based on ICD10 G41; Source: National Records of Scotland (formerly General Register Office for Scotland) Vital Events Reference Tables (Table 6.04)
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.
