ArticleAnnals of neurology2026
Accelerated Brain Atrophy in Epilepsy: A Prospective Population-Based Study.
Article in Annals of neurology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePrevious longitudinal neuroimaging studies suggest that epilepsy is a progressive disorder. To date, these findings have relied largely on populations from tertiary centers, resulting in ascertainment bias, as severely affected individuals are more likely to be rescanned. We aimed to determine rates of progressive brain atrophy in a prospective, population-based cohort.
methodsWe analyzed longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 116 individuals with epilepsy and 89 age- and sex-matched healthy controls recruited from a prospective, longitudinal, community-based cohort in the United Kingdom. All participants underwent 2 scans 3.5 years apart, regardless of seizure status. We quantified progressive changes in cortical thickness and subcortical volumes using state-of-the-art longitudinal morphometry.
resultsPeople with epilepsy exhibited accelerated but modest global grey matter volume (GMV) loss compared with controls (2.7 vs 2.4 ml/year; p = 0.01). This acceleration was associated with specific phenotypes: focal epilepsy, MRI-identifiable lesions, and ongoing seizures. In contrast, generalized epilepsy and seizure-free periods were associated with more stable global trajectories. Cortical regions identified as vulnerable were characterized by markedly accelerated thinning compared to controls (5.3 vs 3.4 μm/year; p < 0.001) and were pervasive across most epilepsy phenotypes.
interpretationEpilepsy is associated with progressive structural brain damage that exceeds normal aging, but the trajectory is heterogeneous. These prospective population-based data confirm that vulnerable regions show progressive atrophy, particularly in focal and lesional epilepsy and individuals with ongoing seizures. ANN NEUROL 2026;100:1028-1038.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.