Abstracts

Rationale: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affects people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Despite this, racial disparities in healthcare access and outcomes persist. These disparities may contribute to unequal health outcomes among epilepsy patients of different racial backgrounds. This study aims to evaluate racial disparities in admissions to a comprehensive Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) in Virginia as this is the optimal standard of care for epilepsy diagnosis, management, and pre-surgical evaluation. To investigate the prevalence of demographic disparities in the utilization of EMU services in patients admitted to the EMU in Inova’s Level 4 Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in Virginia.

Methods: A retrospective review of the electronic medical records of 612 EMU patients between the years of 2021 and 2023 was conducted on the patients admitted to the EMU in a Level 4 Epilepsy Center in Virginia. Of the 612 patients, 557 patient demographic data included race with 55 (9.0%) not reporting racial demographics. The rates of EMU admissions among different racial groups were compared to population estimates from the US Census Bureau.

Results: : As presented in the table below, racial demographics of the admitted patients were similar to the racial demographics of the state of Virginia. This shows that all races have the ability to access all services provided at our Level 4 EMU including pre-surgical evaluation.

Conclusions: The findings of this study highlight that racial demographics in our EMU admissions are comparable to the general population of Virginia and that no disparity exists. We hope to continue to provide unfettered access to epilepsy care by continuing to expand practice and EMU locations throughout Northern Virginia

Funding: none