Breaking the 200 Barrier

This website has as part of its mission the documenting of other SUDEP incidents as it finds them reported across the web and across the globe. These reports come from newspaper articles, fundraising activities, websites dedicated to their loved one (like this one!!), specialist epilepsy organisations and so on.


Today we are pleased to report that we have now documented over 200 SUDEP deaths.  I am sorry that sounds tactless.  Ideally we would not wish to document any SUDEP incidents.  But facts are facts, right now SUDEP deaths occur every day.

Reporting of deaths primarily is in the UK where coroners are obliged to document such deaths as SUDEP.  The case is not so in the rest of the world. Thus to document cases elsewhere one often has to make a judgement call on the case in question from the facts as you know them.

You may be interested to know if there is any useful deductions that can be gleaned from the list.  Well, their are twice as many deaths of men compared with women.  Some argue that this is partly because the testosterone raging in young adult men inclines them to think they are immune from problems, and thus they may be less reliable in taking their AEDs, or perhaps they might live a lifestyle that puts them at greater risk, for instance by drinking more alcohol and sleeping less.

More than a glimmer of hope is that the number of deaths correctly reported as SUDEP deaths is clearly increasing. Yes this is led by the UK.  Elsewhere I have blogged on what was possibly the earliest documented case. Others deduce possible SUDEP instances going back to the Greeks.

Finally I have great pleasure in providing a map of where SUDEP has been reported.  You will see the vast majority are in the UK and USA.