by Elana Gotkine

There is a bidirectional association between myocardial infarction (MI) and late-onset epilepsy (LOE), according to a studypublishedonline Nov. 5 inNeurology.

Evan L. Thacker, Ph.D., from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and colleagues examined whether stroke-free middle-aged andolder adultswith incident MI have an increased risk for incident LOE and whether those with incident LOE have increased risks for incident MI and nonstroke vascular deaths in a population-based cohort study of 3,174 individuals aged 40 years and older from the Northern Manhattan Study.

Overall, 296 participants (9.3%) developed incident MI, 120 (3.8%) developed incident LOE, and 794 (25.0%) died of nonstroke vascular causes. The researchers found that incident LOE occurred at a rate of 7.02 and 2.49 cases per 1,000 person-years after incident MI and among those without MI, respectively (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.06 to 4.25; P = 0.035).

Incident MI occurred at a rate of 17.68 and 6.46 cases per 1,000 person-years after incident LOE and among those without LOE, respectively (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.98 to 4.05; P = 0.059). Nonstroke vascular death occurred at a rate of 99.24 and 16.29 deaths per 1,000 person-years among those with and without LOE, respectively (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.82; 95% confidence interval, 2.09 to 3.80; P < 0.001). Similar results were seen in sensitivity analyses.

"These findings highlight the interconnectedness that heart andvascular healthmay have with brain health in later life," Thacker said in a statement. "When an older adult has aheart attack, clinicians may want to stay alert for possible seizures later."

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More information: Evan L. Thacker et al, Associations of Late-Onset Epilepsy With Myocardial Infarction and Nonstroke Vascular Death, Neurology (2025). DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000214292 Journal information: Neurology