Epilepsy in individuals with a history of Asperger's syndrome: a Danish nationwide register-based cohort study.

Mouridsen et al. (2013) checked every person in Denmark who ever got an Asperger diagnosis. They used the national health registry so no one was missed.

They counted how many of those people also had a doctor-entered epilepsy diagnosis. Then they compared that rate to the rest of the country.

Roughly 1 in 25 people with Asperger's also had epilepsy. That is almost double the usual rate seen in the general public.

The difference was big enough to be statistically significant, meaning it is unlikely to be a fluke.

Leezenbaum et al. (2019) later looked at almost 7,000 children with all types of ASD, not just Asperger's. They found epilepsy risk creeps up as autism severity markers increase. Together, the two studies show the link is real across the spectrum.

Kang et al. (2013) offers a possible reason: weak GABA-A receptors may underlie both conditions. The Danish numbers fit this biology story.

Schmitt (2000) reminds us that medicine choices are still guesswork. The registry study tells us how often epilepsy shows up, but the old review says we lack strong drug guidance for this duo.

If you serve adults or teens with an Asperger profile, plan on seeing seizures in about 4% of them. Build seizure-first-aid training into staff orientation and note seizure triggers in behavior plans. When a client suddenly loses skills or shows new self-injury, ask the doctor about an EEG. Early epilepsy control can protect learning and keep your ABA program on track.