Epilepsy and Early Dementia: What a New Study Found, and What It Doesn't Mean

By Jim Pavlish, Editor · Last updated: Tuesday, October 27, 2026 · Editorial policy

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

A new study in the journal Neurology looked at a connection that doesn't get much attention: epilepsy and dementia that starts before age 65, often called young-onset dementia.

What happened. Researchers used national health records from France and Sweden. In France, they compared 11,360 people with young-onset dementia to 113,600 people of the same age and sex without it, and looked back 10 years. Epilepsy was about ten times as common in the dementia group, 12.5% compared with 1.2%. Swedish records showed a similar pattern. In a second approach, they followed people newly diagnosed with epilepsy for 10 years and, after accounting for stroke, mood disorders and head injury, found about six times the risk of developing dementia before 65 compared with people without epilepsy. (Source: Epilepsy Action's summary of the study.)

What it does not mean. The study shows a link, not that one condition causes the other. The two may share underlying brain changes. And as lead author Dr. Vincent Navarro put it, "it's important to remember that absolute risk is low." Most people with epilepsy will never develop young-onset dementia. The researchers also didn't know which type of epilepsy or dementia people had.

Why it matters. It adds to earlier research showing the link runs both ways: people with Alzheimer's have seizures more often than others their age, and seizures that start later in life can be an early sign of memory decline. The authors suggest that people with epilepsy may benefit from earlier memory checks and closer attention to things like blood pressure. We pulled the research together in a new guide: Seizures, epilepsy and dementia: what families should know.

Thanks for reading, and take care of yourself today.