EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS — Older adults who have a heart attack may be more likely to develop epilepsy later in life, according to a study published November 5, 2025 in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While the study shows a link between these conditions, it does not prove cause and effect.
“In middle-aged and older adults, vascular disease can block, weaken or narrow blood vessels, and it often affects multiple parts of the body at once,” said study author Evan L. Thacker, PhD, of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. “Our study found a first heart attack may flag cerebrovascular disease, a condition that affects blood vessels in the brain, which may raise the risk of epilepsy.”
The study included 3,174 adults who were stroke-free and had no history of heart attack or epilepsy at the start of the study. They had an average age of 69 and were followed for up to 30 years.
During the study, 296 people had a heart attack, 120 developed late-onset epilepsy, which is epilepsy after age 60, and 794 died of vascular causes other than stroke. Vascular causes included heart attack as well as heart failure, irregular heartbeat, pulmonary embolism—a blood clot in the lungs—and aortic aneurysm, a bulge in the main artery of the heart.
For people who had a heart attack, seven people per 1,000 person-years later developed epilepsy compared to two people per 1,000 person-years who did not have a heart attack. Person-years represent both the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study.
After adjusting for factors such as age, smoking and weight, researchers found after a heart attack, people were about twice as likely to develop late-onset epilepsy.
Researchers also looked at whether people with late-onset epilepsy had an increased risk of then having a heart attack, but found no significant association.
Researchers found that deaths from a vascular cause other than stroke occurred at a rate of 99 deaths per 1,000 person-years after a person developed late-onset epilepsy compared to 16 per 1,000 person years for people who never developed epilepsy. After adjustments, people who developed late-life epilepsy were nearly three times more likely to die from a vascular cause.
“These findings highlight the interconnectedness that heart and vascular health may have with brain health in later life,” Thacker said. “When an older adult has a heart attack, clinicians may want to stay alert for possible seizures later.”
A limitation of the study was that the number of people who developed both conditions was small, which makes the estimates less certain.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Discover more about epilepsy at Brain & Life®, from the American Academy of Neurology. This resource also offers a website, podcast, and books that connect patients, caregivers and anyone interested in brain health with the most trusted information, straight from the world’s leading experts in brain health. Follow Brain & Life® on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
The American Academy of Neurology is the leading voice in brain health. As the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals with more than 40,000 members, the AAN provides access to the latest news, science and research affecting neurology for patients, caregivers, physicians and professionals alike. The AAN’s mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all. A neurologist is a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis, care and treatment of brain, spinal cord and nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, concussion, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, headache and migraine.
Explore the latest in neurological disease and brain health, from the minds at the AAN at AAN.com or find us on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
END
Study links heart attacks and late-onset epilepsy in older adults
2025-11-05
(Press-News.org)
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Urban fungi show signs of thermal adaptation
2025-11-05
A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that common fungal species may be adapting to higher temperatures in warmer sites within cities compared to cooler sites in the same city.
The findings could signify that urban fungi could one day evolve into disease-causing pathogens. The researchers note that this is a proof-of-principle study, designed to investigate whether fungal species may adapt differently across sites within the same city. While the new findings suggest that they might, the researchers emphasize that more studies, with more samples in different cities, are needed.
Fungi ...
How to identify and prevent fraudulent participants in health research
2025-11-05
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Contact:
Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu
Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu
##
The rise in virtual research since the COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities for researchers to expand and diversify clinical trials, but it has also opened up avenues for fraudulent participation in these studies. A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers directed by Michael Stein, chair and professor of the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management ...
Parents' attachment style may be linked with risk of parental burnout, especially when associated with difficulty in understanding and identifying their emotions
2025-11-05
Parents' attachment style may be linked with risk of parental burnout, especially when associated with difficulty in understanding and identifying their emotions
Article URL: http://plos.io/3Lv62sL
Article title: Alexithymia and attachment dimensions in relation to parental burnout: A structural equation modelling approach
Author countries: Poland
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...
Abnormal repetitive behaviors in mice are associated with oxidative stress
2025-11-05
Abnormal repetitive behaviors in mice are strongly linked to multiple biomarkers of oxidative stress, which occurs when antioxidants cannot counteract the effects of harmful molecules in the body, according to a study published November 5, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Kendall Coden and Dr. Joseph Garner of Stanford University, U.S. However, more research is needed to test whether antioxidants can prevent or treat these behaviors.
Stereotypies are abnormal, repetitive, and seemingly goal-less behaviors that are prevalent within the animal kingdom. They have been documented in nearly every captive mammal and bird species, including laboratory ...
Double disadvantage hurts more than twice as much
2025-11-05
Belonging to more than one marginalized group can make building and maintaining social connections significantly harder, often in ways that go far beyond a simple sum of disadvantages. A new study shows how inequalities in social ties don’t just add up – they can amplify one another.
Why do some people have more friendships, more support, and more opportunities – while others seem to have far fewer? Is it simply a matter of personal choices, or do structural patterns play a deeper role?
For individuals who belong to a disadvantaged social group, forming connections tends to be more ...
Paradox of rotating turbulence finally tamed with world-class ‘hurricane-in-a-lab’
2025-11-05
From stirring milk in your coffee to fearsome typhoon gales, rotating turbulent flows are everywhere. Yet, these spinning currents are as scientifically complex as they are banal. Describing, modelling, and predicting turbulent flows have important implications across many fields, from weather forecasting to studying the formation of planets in the accretion disk of nascent stars.
Two formulations are at the heart of the study of turbulence: Kolmogorov’s universal framework for small-scale turbulence, which describes how energy propagates and dissipates through ...
Brain pathway may fuel both aggression, self-harm
2025-11-05
Aggression and self-harm often co-occur in individuals with a history of early-life trauma—a connection that has largely been documented by self-reporting in research and clinical settings.
Adding to this connection, individuals treated for self-inflicted injuries are five times more likely to engage in excessive aggression.
What’s happening in the brain to tie these two behaviors together?
A new study by Sora Shin, an assistant professor in the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC’s Center for Neurobiology Research, has identified a brain circuit that changes after trauma. The study was published Nov. 5 in Science ...
Study: Macrophage “bodyguard” disruptors could change breast cancer treatment by helping to overcome endocrine resistance
2025-11-05
Article Summary
Certain immune cells help breast cancer resist hormone therapy.
Sylvester researchers studied how blocking those cells with a new drug combo may help.
The approach could lead to better treatment options for tough-to-treat hormone therapy resistant breast cancer cases.
MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL NOV 5, 2025, AT 2:00 P.M. ET) – In preclinical studies, researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, have tested a new combination ...
New study reveals southern ocean’s winter CO₂ outgassing underestimated by 40%
2025-11-05
A collaborative research team has discovered that the Southern Ocean releases substantially more carbon dioxide (CO2) during the dark austral winter than previously thought. Their new study reveals that this winter outgassing has been underestimated by up to 40%.
The team comprises researchers from the Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (SIO-MNR), and the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their findings were published in Science Advances on ...
U of A-led team discovers large ritual constructions by early Mesoamericans
2025-11-05
In the summer of 2020, an international team led by a University of Arizona archaeologist reported the discovery of the largest monumental construction known today in the Maya area in the state of Tabasco, near Mexico's southeastern border.
The monument, found at a site called Aguada Fénix, measures nearly a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, ranges from 30 to 50 feet high and dates to 1,000 B.C.
In the five years since that discovery, the team, led by Regents Professor of anthropology Takeshi Inomata and Fred A. Reicker Distinguished Professor of anthropology Daniela Triadan, has pieced together evidence about Aguada ...