Epilepsy Research Grossly Underfunded

At the SUDEP conference on London on Saturday there was a presentation by Dr Shane Delamont of King's College, a co-author of  "The Brain, a beginner's guide".  One of the points he made in the Q&A session was comparing funding of research into Epilepsy, compared with other subjects such as heart disease, cancer etc.  His comment essentially was that, in comparison, Epilepsy was grossly underfunded.  According to The Daily Beast 50,000 Americans die from Epilepsy each year.  That is not simply those who have a seizure, but those who die.


Dr. Delamont compared the amount of research into heart conditions versus epilepsy this way.  Imagine stacking all the quality research reports on top of each other, and say that stack was about the height of an average door.  The equivalent stack for Epilepsy would be no more than a couple of inches (okay 5cm for any decimalisation addicts).

So if Epilepsy is under-researched then no doubt that SUDEP is also grossly under-researched.  Our fundraising is not going to make much dent in that challenge, but it is our contribution.