An association between type 1 diabetes and idiopathic generalized epilepsy

Objective: Idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs) account for approximately 30% of all patients with epilepsy. Both the IGEs and type I diabetes mellitus (T1D) represent serious worldwide problems, because of related medical and social management costs. Clinical experience suggested the two conditions were seen in individuals more frequently than might be expected by chance. Methods: We compared the population prevalence of T1D in 15- to 30-year-olds to a cohort of 518 15- to 30-year-olds with IGE. Results: We found a highly significant excess of T1D in our IGE cohort, with an odds ratio of 4.4 (95% confidence interval, 2.1-9.2). Interpretation Our results suggest that the prevalence of T1D is increased by a factor of four in young adults with IGE. To our knowledge, this is the first published association between the two conditions and expands the diseases known to be associated with T1D.