Is it safe for people with epilepsy to drive a vehicle? Doctors answer

Epilepsy Awareness Month 2022: Doctors reveal whether it is safe for people with epilepsy to be driving/riding a vehicle on public roads, its occurrences and triggers and role of anxiety in causing this brain disease

Epilepsy is a brain disease that doesn’t seem to capture the attention of the most but as a matter of fact, research says that epilepsy is quite common in India, especially among children and 1 in 10 people have an unprovoked seizure in their life. The latest from Bollywood on epilepsy is that actor Fatima Sana revealed that she has been dealing with epilepsy so, this Epilepsy Awareness Month 2022, we got a few doctors on board to answer some pertinent questions.

Is it safe for people with epilepsy to drive a vehicle? Doctors answer (Twitter/BrainAblaze)

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Ashish Gosar, Consultant Neurologist at Masina Hospital in Mumbai, shared, “When a person has 2 or more seizures 24 hours apart, he is said to be having epilepsy. As per the Motor Vehicle Act 1939, a person with epilepsy must not be alloted a driving licence even if he has had a single seizure at any point in his life. Ideally in most western countries patients with epilepsy who are seizure free for more than a year are allowed to drive. If a patients seizure are well controlled than it is reasonably safe for them to drive or ride vehicle on public roads.”

Insisiting upon the same, Dr Manish Chhabria, Consultant Neurologist at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai, said, “It is not safe for people with epilepsy to drive, as it can harm self and or others on the road, in the event of a seizure event happening while driving. The Indian Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 has empowered transport authorities to deny a driving licence to anyone with even a single seizure at any point in his/her life. Current regulations require all applicants to fill up an 'application cum declaration of physical fitness' form. If declared as having epilepsy, the applicant is required to undergo a medical examination. Even in the case of positive medical recommendations, there is no provision to issue a driving licence if the person has epilepsy.”

Talking about whether it can lead to morality, Dr Ashish Gosar explained, “Epilepsy which is uncontrolled with longer seizure may lead to sudden death. Status epilepticus means seizure lasting more than 5 mins and patient does not regain consciousness for more than 30 mins or recurrent seizures with patient not conscious in between seizures is known as status epilepticus is a cause of mortality when patient does not receive medical attention urgently. Drug default and irregular medication along with other triggers for seizure can lead to status epilepticus and may sometime cause sudden death.”

According to Dr Manish Chhabria, epilepsy can lead to mortality. He highlighted, “Triggers and reasons depend on cause of epilepsy e.g. Cerebrovascular, tumour, trauma, substance abuse - alcohol or mental health issues related to epilepsy causing events like suicide.” Other problems like heart disease be a reason for developing epilepsy in old age. He said, “Heart conditions can cause epilepsy at old age, due to risk of developing brain strokes – which form scar in brain which cause seizures.”

Echoing the same, Dr Ashish Gosar said, “Late onset epilepsy is generally due to secondary causes which may be related to diabetes hypertension or cardiac ailments. These vascular risk factors affect the brain which may in turn lead to seizure in elderly.” On the other hand, he added, “Epilepsy in children is triggered by multiple factors. Common being drug default, lack of sleep , emotional stress and anxiety. Anxiety though does not directly cause seizure but due to the emotional stress mat cause sleep disturbance which in turn may trigger a seizure.”

Sharing his view on whether epilepsy in children be triggered by anxiety, Dr Manish Chhabria asserted, “It is not always necessary that anxiety will cause or trigger a seizure. “Events” that can be confused for epileptic seizures in children include breath-holding spells, fainting, movement disorders, sleep disorders and even migraine headaches. In addition, most people are surprised to learn that stress can cause a child to have an episode that looks like an epileptic seizure. Just as stress can cause children to have headaches and stomach aches, stress can also cause events that look like seizures, called psychogenic non-epileptic events. They are called psychogenic and are not true seizures.”