Epilepsy-related mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide study of routine Scottish data

Methods: This was a national, population-based, cross-sectional study of routinely-collected mortality and demographic data pertaining to March-August of 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic) compared to the corresponding periods in 2015-2019. ICD-10-coded causes of death of deceased people of any age were obtained from a national mortality registry of death certificates. The G40-41 ICD-10 codes for epilepsy were used to define epilepsy-related deaths, with or without a U07*1-07*2 ICD-10 code for COVID-19 listed as an additional cause. Deaths unrelated to epilepsy were defined as all remaining Scottish deaths without G40-41 ICD-10 codes listed as a cause. We assessed the number of epilepsy-related deaths in 2020 compared to mean year-to-year variation observed in 2015-2019 (overall, men, women). We assessed proportionate mortality and odds ratios (OR) for deaths with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause in people with epilepsy-related deaths compared to in deaths unrelated to epilepsy, reporting 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Sheet 1 contains a key to the remaining dataset.