To determine the financial burden of epilepsy in the United States between 1993-2019.

The complexity of epilepsy can lead to a higher financial burden on healthcare organizations. Knowing the economic trends in epilepsy can help healthcare institutions prepare and implement solutions to decrease the impact on its systems.

This is a cross-sectional cohort study of inpatient subjects diagnosed with epilepsy from 1993-2019 that was collected from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) via the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Patients were evaluated for demographics, hospital length of stay, hospital charges, and aggregated charges. Statistical Z testing was conducted for analysis.

During the study period, we reviewed 6,915,186 discharges with the principal diagnosis of epilepsy (rate of 85.51/100,000). The sex distribution was almost equal within the epilepsy cohort with 50.1% being female, and the mean age was 41.58 [+/-0.90]. The absolute number of total patients diagnosed with epilepsy increased during the study period from 231,357 to 289,875 (p value: 0.00); however, the rate of epilepsy discharges almost remained constant at 89[+/- 2.6]/100,000, with mean total epilepsy discharges at 268,608 [+/- 8747] per year. The mean hospital length of stay for epilepsy patients was 3.79 [ +/- 0.06] days and significantly decreased over the study period (p-value:0.00).

From 1993-2019, United States’ healthcare spent more than 160 billion dollars on epilepsy admissions. The mean hospital charges for each epilepsy patient were $30,709 [+/- 938]. This significantly increased during the study period (p value: 0.00).

Our data showed that the financial burden of hospital admissions for epilepsy during the study period was close to $200 billion. Increased protocols for detection, treatment optimization, follow-up scheduling, and affordable care may decrease the rate of hospitalizations and subsequent economic burden. Further studies are warranted to minimize the financial burden of epilepsy in healthcare.