Epilepsy and inheritance

• Introduction
• Reasons why you might inherit epilepsy
• The risks of inheriting epilepsy 
• Conclusion

Introduction

If you have epilepsy, it means that you sometimes have seizures. Anybody can develop epilepsy, but some people have a higher risk of developing epilepsy than others.

Epilepsy is a very complex condition and there are many different types. There are also many different reasons why people develop it.

• Some people are born with epilepsy. It is thought that between two and five in every 100 children born to parents with epilepsy will inherit epilepsy.
• Some people have epilepsy that is caused by brain damage, which can be caused by a number of things. These include a difficult birth, a brain infection (such as meningitis), a stroke or a serious brain injury. Not everybody who has brain damage develops epilepsy.
• For around six out of 10 people with epilepsy, there is no obvious reason why they have developed the condition.

Reasons why you might inherit epilepsy

A certain type of epilepsy might run in your family.

Certain types of epilepsy seem to run in families. These could include childhood absence epilepsy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, photosensitive epilepsy or febrile seizures. However, it is more common for families to have different types of epilepsy in them.

More information about different types of epilepsy is available from Epilepsy Action.

You might inherit a low seizure threshold.

We all have something called a seizure threshold in our brain. People with a low seizure threshold are more likely to have seizures than people with a high seizure threshold. Low seizure thresholds may be inherited.

If you have epilepsy and your doctors have not found a cause for it, you may have inherited a low seizure threshold.

If you have brain damage, you have a higher risk of developing epilepsy if there is a history of epilepsy in your family. This is because you may have inherited a low seizure threshold.

You might inherit another medical condition that causes epilepsy

Two to three in every 100 people with epilepsy have epilepsy because they have inherited a different medical condition that also causes epilepsy. For example, tuberous sclerosis is a rare condition that is inherited. It causes benign (non-cancerous) tumours to develop in different parts of the body. It can cause other health conditions, including epilepsy, learning disabilities and autism.

More information about tuberous sclerosis is available from the Tuberous Sclerosis Association.

Tel: 01332 290 734
Website: tuberous-sclerosis.org

The risks of inheriting epilepsy

Each type of epilepsy has a different level of risk for being inherited. However, even with the types of epilepsy that are most likely to be inherited, the risk that a child will inherit it is thought to be less than 15 in every 100.

Here is some information about the risks of a child developing epilepsy, when other family members have epilepsy.

Conclusion

Research into epilepsy and inheritance is being carried out all the time. In recent years, scientists have discovered lots of new information, but there is still a lot to learn.

Here is a summary of our understanding of epilepsy and inheritance.

• The risk that a child will inherit epilepsy depends on: 
• the type of epilepsy that is in the family
• which family members have epilepsy
• how old the family members were when they developed it.
• Some types of epilepsy have a higher risk of being inherited than other types.
• Some people don’t inherit epilepsy itself, but they do inherit a low seizure threshold.
• Between two and five in every 100 children born to parents with epilepsy will inherit epilepsy.