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Study links mental illness to early death in people with epilepsy

Research

People with epilepsy are 10 times more likely to die before their mid-fifties compared with the general population, according to a large study by researchers at Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

The findings reveal a striking correlation between premature death and mental illness in these patients. People with epilepsy were four times more likely to have received a psychiatric diagnosis compared with the general population.

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