Scientific American: The Role of Seizures in Alzheimer’s Disease Is Gaining Overdue Attention

Since the second person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, seizures have been a common symptom only thought to be a side effect of the brain degenerating disease. However, recent evidence has began to grasp attention suggesting the seizures or abnormal electrical signaling may precede the symptom of memory loss; seizures may be linked to the progression of the disease. A recent study’s findings suggests that in individuals over 55, seizures were associated with twice the risk of developing dementia between one and nine years post-seizure. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and a professor at UC San Francisco, has found that when testing for abnormal neurological activity overnight, over 40 percent of patients with Alzheimers had epileptic activity.