Seizures named more often on brain tumor death records
Original title: Epilepsy as a Contributing Cause of Death Among Malignant Brain Tumour Patients in the United States, 1999-2024: A Multiple-Cause CDC WONDER Joinpoint Analysis with Relevance to the Epilepsy Treatment Gap in Pakistan.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This only counted death records in people. It did not test a treatment.
The short version
Seizures show up more often on the death records of people with brain cancer.
What was studied. Researchers looked at US death records from 1999 to 2024. They counted how often epilepsy or long seizures were listed along with a cancerous brain tumor.
What they found. In 1999, 0.26% of these death records also listed epilepsy or long seizures. By 2024 that number was 1.45%. That is a 5.5-fold increase across the 25 years.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Seizures are still a real burden for people with brain tumors. It is fair to ask your care team how your seizure risk is watched and treated. The authors also say this way of counting could help countries that lack good health records, like Pakistan.
What it doesn't mean: This does not prove seizures are getting worse. The study only counted what people wrote on death records. Those writing habits can change over time. No treatment was tested here. This is record keeping, not a new drug and not a cure. Nothing in it changes your care today.
Source: PubMed, September 1, 2026 · Read the original
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