Presentations

Abstract

Introduction:

Epilepsy is a type of neurological condition that, according to the CDC and World Health Organization, affects around 1% of Americans annually and over 50 million people worldwide. It presents a complex healthcare issue for many people chronically living with the condition, but it is estimated that up to 70% of people living with epilepsy could be seizure-free if properly diagnosed and medicated. To make matters more difficult, there have been numerous articles showing health disparities between minority and Caucasian patients with epilepsy (PWE) in terms of diagnosis rates, drug prescribing, medical compliance, treatment plans, health outcomes, overall satisfaction with care received, and many other aspects. The most significant factors that have been found to contribute to epilepsy disparities can be derived from the acronym FACETS: 1) Fear of treatment, 2) Access to Care, 3) Communication barriers, 4) Education lack/differences, 5) Trust between physicians and patients and 6) Social support. The factors this article aims to address are improving Access to Care, Communication barriers, and lack of Education. The goal of this review is to explore different digital health products and innovations currently available in the market through the FACETS framework in order to provide people with epilepsy (PWE) tools to improve their standard of living. Three main types of products were explored: biometric tracking devices, epilepsy management diaries, and epilepsy self-management education resources.

Main Body:

Literature review was carried out using PubMed. 958 articles from 2018-2023 were reviewed using keywords: "epilepsy monitoring device", "epilepsy diary", and "epilepsy self- management education". Initial inclusion criteria were met by having at least 2 keywords in the title and/or abstract. 262 out of 615 (43%) articles reviewed in the monitoring group were initially included; 27 out of 201 (13%) articles reviewed in the diary group were initially included; 43 out of 142 (30%) articles reviewed in the education group were initially included. Out of 332 articles that were initially included, 110 have been further reviewed so far and 20 were included for analysis. Exclusion criteria for articles after the initial review includes animal studies, devices solely used for neurostimulation/ to improve neurosurgery outcomes, monitoring devices used only in clinic, opinion/comment articles, qualitative articles, and lack of keywords in the description. 17 out of 20 articles (85%) were found to have successful clinical trials, but none contributed directly to alleviating disparities in epilepsy outcomes between minorities and Caucasian patients.

Conclusion:

More epilepsy health tools need to be tested and implemented in order to improve accessibility and confidence of usage. Further efforts are needed to reduce costs and provide products to patients of lower socioeconomic statuses (SES). This review will hopefully empower patients and their relatives by providing them a vast array of resources to better understand, monitor, and manage epilepsy. If successfully applied, these approaches could mitigate health disparities in epilepsy care and create equitable outcomes for more patients.