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CLOVER

People who develop seizures in mid or late adulthood have a four fold increased risk of stroke

CLOVER, Collaboration for Late-Onset and Vascular Epilepsy Research, is a new initiative between partners in London and the South East and the North West of England. Lancaster University, the University of Central Lancashire, University College London, and the Epilepsy Society have come together to establish an important collaboration to address this neglected group of disorders.

Patients with late-onset epilepsy are often regarded as having seizures that are relatively easy to treat but this position fails to acknowledge seizures as a harbinger of brain disease, and fails to acknowledge the wider impacts for the individual and society. There is increasing evidence from research in recent years of trajectories towards stroke, dementia, or both. There is a lack of cross sectional or longitudinal observational data and a lack of mechanistic understanding. 

Neurological conditions cause an immense global burden, ranging from the very common headache disorders which affect almost half of the world’s population, to rare but life-limiting disorders such as motor neurone disease. Dementias and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease will increase over the next 1-2 decades, but effective treatments are largely lacking – so there is an enormous need for neuroscience research.