Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of Brazilian patients with epilepsy who drive and their association with traffic accidents

PurposeTo identify variables associated with driving in patients with epilepsy and their association with traffic accidents.MethodsBinary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent association between demographic and clinical variables and driving in 144 outpatients with epilepsy. Traffic accidents caused by seizures were also analyzed.ResultsSixty-eight patients (47.2%) drove after the diagnosis of epilepsy. Among these patients, 67.6% drove in the last 12 months, 89% of whom did so in spite of uncontrolled seizures. Driving was independently associated with male sex, higher income, occurrence of simple partial seizures, age at epilepsy onset over 18 years and monotherapy treatment. Seventeen patients (only male) had accidents due to seizures, which were independently associated with lower education and age at epilepsy onset over 18 years.ConclusionsIdentification of variables associated with driving and traffic accidents may help to minimize risks and improve the quality of life of patients with epilepsy.

► There is a high prevalence of epilepsy patients with uncontrolled seizures who drive. ► More than half of the patients who drove after diagnosis had a seizure while driving. ► Two-thirds of patients who had loss of consciousness while driving had accidents. ► Ninety-six percent of accidents occurred with patients not seizure free for one year. ► The majority of patients did not stop driving after the accident.