Emergency departments are seeing a troubling pattern: frequent visits for seizures among patients from low-income and minority communities. Emergency departments are not equipped to manage chronic conditions like epilepsy long-term. Instead, they treat acute episodes, which can be avoided with proper ongoing care.
A study published in Epilepsia reveals that socioeconomic and racial disparities are driving this trend, with nearly 15% of over 200,000 patients returning to the ER more than once during the study period.
Patients with Medicare, Medicaid, or no insurance were significantly more likely to have repeat emergency visits compared to those with private insurance. Black patients, in particular, had higher odds of frequent ER use than white patients. However, when Black patients had public insurance, the disparity was less pronounced. Those living in the lowest-income zip codes were also more likely to be frequent ER users.
Frequent emergency visits are not a sign of good care. They often reflect a lack of access to consistent outpatient treatment and preventive services.
The authors of the study stress that solving these disparities requires more than just medical intervention. “Eliminating deeply rooted factors such as poverty, health care costs, and systemic racism requires comprehensive, multisectoral approaches far beyond the scope of health care providers alone,” they write. Still, they urge clinicians to advocate for patients and push for policy changes that address these systemic issues.
See: “Socioeconomic Disparities Contribute to Frequent ED Visits for Seizure” (July 14, 2025)
