The physician's role in reducing health disparities for persons with epilepsy and intellectual disability: "it's not just epilepsy …you really have to take a deeper dive."

Epilepsy Behav. 2024 Feb;151:109646. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2024.109646. Epub 2024 Jan 24.ABSTRACTEpilepsy affects approximately 25 % of people with intellectual disability (ID). Despite this high prevalence, evidence of health disparity exists in healthcare access and health outcomes for this population. Patients with ID experience additional challenges in accessing appropriate epilepsy care, and are at greater risk of experiencing inappropriate prescribing, polypharmacy and misdiagnosis compared with the general population. The expectations, attitudes and actions of physicians are key in addressing health inequalities, particularly those which disproportionately impact a specific group of patients, such as patients with ID and epilepsy. This qualitative study aimed to explore the views of specialist physicians as to why they believe this patient group are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing appropriate epilepsy care, and how physicians can intervene to ensure that patients with ID are given equal access to suitable epilepsy care, and equal opportunity to achieve the best possible treatment outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six physicians, located in six countries, who specialise in the care of persons with ID who have epilepsy. Interviews sought views on prognostic expectations, experiences of disparities in epilepsy care, and suggestions for advocacy interventions. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three core themes...
Source: Epilepsy and Behaviour - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research