Epidemiology of temporal lobe epilepsy

To fulfill its task of informed clinical decision making and resource alloc ation, epidemiological studies in epilepsy must adhere to a series of metho dological standards. These are reviewed. Because seizure and epilepsy class ification systems may be viewed as extensions of the diagnosis, they have d irect implications in the acquisition and interpretation of epidemiologic d ata. The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification system s are analyzed in this light. Finally, the lack of Canadian epidemiological studies is addressed, and the relevance and potential of Canadian epidemio logical data in epilepsy is discussed.