ABSTRACT
Background. Socio-demographic factors are associated with increased emergency department (ED) use among patients with epilepsy. However, there has been limited spatial analysis of such visits.
Design and methods. California ED visit at the patient ZIP Code level were examined using Kulldorf’s spatial scan statistic to identify clusters of increased risk for epilepsy-related visits. Logistic regression was used to examine the relative importance of patient socio-demographics, Census-based and hospital measures.
Results. During 2009-2011 there were 29,715,009 ED visits at 330 hospitals, of which 139,235 (0.5%) had epilepsy (International Classification of Disease-9 345.xx) as the primary diagnosis. Three large urban clusters of high epilepsy-related ED visits were centred in the cities of Los Angeles, Oakland and Stockton and a large rural clus- ter centred in Kern County. No consistent pattern by age, race/ethnicity, household structure, and income was observed among all clusters. Regression found only the Los Angeles cluster significant after adjusting for other measures.
Conclusions. Geospatial analysis within a large and geographically diverse region identified a cluster within its most populous city having an increased risk of ED visits for epilepsy independent of selected socio-demographic and hospital measures. Additional research is necessary to determine whether elevated rates of ED visits represent increased prevalence of epilepsy or an inequitable system of epilepsy care.