Infections or meningitis during first week of life linked with increased epilepsy risk

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-07-08 01:00

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Bacterial infections during the first week of life are linked with an increased risk of childhood epilepsy, according to Danish scientists. They looked at epilepsy risk in 981,869 children, 8,154 (0.8%) of whom were diagnosed with early-onset sepsis and 152 of whom were diagnosed with meningitis. Kids who had a bacterial infection were twice as likely as those who had not to develop childhood epilepsy, while kids who had meningitis were at 10 times the risk, the researchers say. Although this type of study cannot prove cause and effect, the findings suggest improved prevention and treatment of early bacterial infections could help reduce the risk of childhood epilepsy, the authors conclude.