Association between telemedicine and incidence of status epilepticus during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the association between telemedicine and the incidence of status epilepticus (SE) in patients with epilepsy (PWE) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic using a large population database in the United States. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of a private, cloud-based healthcare platform (Explorys Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA). We compared each of the previously reported risk factors for SE, such as child, male, and refractory epilepsy, using the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test in two groups: PWE with SE or without SE. We determined whether telemedicine could be a risk factor for the incidence of SE using multivariate binary logistic regression analysis incorporating statistically significant variables in the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test (p < 0.05). Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: We identified 1600 PWE with SE and 61,700 PWE without SE from May 2020 to May 2021. The proportion of children, males, refractory epilepsy, and telemedicine was higher in PWE with SE than in PWE without SE (children: 21.9% vs. 17.7%, p < 0.001; male: 52.5% vs. 48.2%, p = 0.001; refractory epilepsy: 20.6% vs. 8.2%, p < 0.001; telemedicine: 42.5% vs. 23.6%, p < 0.001). The multivariate binary logistic regression model identified four significant variables as follows: child (odds ratio [OR], 1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17–1.50), male (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.07–1.31), refractory epilepsy (OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 2.15–2.77), and telemedicine (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 2.07–2.54). CONCLUSION: Telemedicine might be associated with an increased risk of SE in PWE during the COVID-19 pandemic.