1 in 100 Canadian are diagnosed with epilepsy each year. However, Indigenous Canadians are twice as likely to have epilepsy.
Download our Epilepsy and First Nations Peoples brochure.
What is Status Epilepticus?
Status Epilepticus is a life threatening condition defined as a seizure or cluster of seizures lasting longer than 5 minutes that does NOT stop on its own and from which a person does not wake.
First Nations Peoples have the highest rate of Status Epilepticus anywhere in the world. Approximately 10 per 10,000 people. First Nations individuals counted for 44% of hospital admissions for Status Epilepticus compared to allother races.
Possible causes include higher rates of brain injuries, stress, nutritional deficiencies, reduced access to medications and mistrust.
What is SUDEP?
Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) is a result of poor seizure control, non-adherence to medications, ignoring seizure triggers such as poor sleep, having nocturnal seizures, substance abuse and co-morbidities. SUDEP is the cause of 1 in1000 deaths in people with epilepsy per year.