Advances in treatment and prognosis of status epilepticus

Epileptic seizures are self-limited, generally manifested as sudden onset and typical termination with short duration, while status epilepticus (SE) refers to prolonged seizure activity that is not likely to stop spontaneously. SE carries extremely high mortality and morbidity rates, and represents one of the critical diseases in department of neurology. The elderly are at high risk for SE, and elderly SE patients are often complicated with a variety of comorbidities, termed “epilepsy comorbidities”, which may reduce the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of antiseizure medications and compromise treatment outcomes and prognosis of patients. Notably, the mortality of SE in the elderly is the highest among all age groups. In this article, we review the epidemiology, etiology, clinical features, treatment regimens, epilepsy comorbidities and prognostic assessment tools of SE in the elderly, aiming to provide a reference for the prevention, treatment and prognostic evaluation of SE in this population.