TABLE. Mean weekly seizure- or epilepsy-related emergency department visits and overall emergency department visits, by age and sex, and percentage change* — National Syndromic Surveillance Program,† United States, April 1–December 29, 2019–2021.
| Characteristic | Mean weekly visits, no. (95% CI)§ |
% Change |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2019–2020 | 2020–2021 | |
|
Seizure or epilepsy ED visits
| |||||
|
Age group, yrs
| |||||
| 0–9 |
2,759 (2,660–2,864) |
1,553 (1,504–1,593) |
2,528 (2,462–2,593) |
−44 |
63 |
| 10–19 |
1,893 (1,846–1,940) |
1,413 (1,356–1,469) |
1,749 (1,710–1,786) |
−25 |
24 |
| 20–39 |
7,102 (7,037–7,165) |
6,143 (5,957–6,316) |
6,579 (6,478–6,680) |
−13 |
7 |
| 40–59 |
6,476 (6,412–6,539) |
5,701 (5,548–5,838) |
5,769 (5,678–5,860) |
−12 |
1 |
| 60–69 |
2,588 (2,561–2,617) |
2,423 (2,373–2,467) |
2,495 (2,468–2,524) |
−6 |
3 |
| ≥70 |
2,641 (2,604–2,679) |
2,504(2,441–2,561) |
2,583 (2,557–2,613) |
−5 |
3 |
|
Sex
| |||||
| Female |
11,422 (11,344–11,501) |
9,327 (9,044–9,579) |
10,373 (10,280–10,470) |
−18 |
11 |
| Male |
12,128 (12,039–12,236) |
10,462 (10,214–10,694) |
11,387 (11,296–11,470) |
−14 |
9 |
|
Total
|
23,588 (23,429–23,739)
|
19,824 (19,295–20,311)
|
21,800 (21,614–21,969)
|
−16
|
10
|
|
All-cause ED visits
| |||||
|
Age group, yrs
| |||||
| 0–9 |
162,711 (154,767–171,195) |
71,131 (67,015–74,824) |
142,868 (137,805–147,822) |
−56 |
101 |
| 10–19 |
127,264 (123,781–130,677) |
79,594 (74,870–84,171) |
114,353 (111,036–117,884) |
−37 |
44 |
| 20–39 |
416,652 (413,210–420,159) |
336,598 (322,674–348,693) |
401,671 (394,081–409,796) |
−19 |
19 |
| 40–59 |
347,606 (344,299–350,816) |
288,453 (278,532–297,426) |
337,317 (331,750–342,781) |
−17 |
17 |
| 60–69 |
157,694 (156,596–158,946) |
135,574 (130,804–139,547) |
161,899 (160,116–163,865) |
−14 |
19 |
| ≥70 |
231,619 (230,000–233,699) |
193,202 (185,523–199,808) |
231,799 (229,713–233,852) |
−17 |
20 |
|
Sex
| |||||
| Female |
797,473 (791,101–804,433) |
593,418 (568,244–615,384) |
755,769 (745,392–766,769) |
−26 |
27 |
| Male |
651,555 (646,948–656,594) |
513,365 (494,989–530,303) |
636,576 (627,504–646,651) |
−21 |
24 |
| Total | 1,451,717 (1,441,285–1,463,581) | 1,109,069 (1,067,564–1,148,844) | 1,395,349 (1,374,389–1,415,093) | −24 | 26 |
Abbreviation: ED = emergency department.
* The percentage change in visits between the surveillance and reference periods (2019 [reference] versus 2020 [surveillance] and 2020 [reference] versus 2021 [surveillance]) was calculated as (ED visits during surveillance period – ED visits during reference period)/ED visits during reference period x 100%.
† The National Syndromic Surveillance Program receives anonymized medical record information from approximately 71% of nonfederal EDs nationwide. To reduce artifactual impact from changes in reporting patterns, analyses were restricted to facilities with more consistent reporting of more complete data (coefficient of variation ≤40 and average weekly informative discharge diagnosis ≥75% complete during 2019–2021).
§ CIs were constructed using the percentile bootstrap method using 1,000 replicate samples of the weekly counts. CIs were formed using the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of the bootstrap distributions.