Transition and Transfer From Pediatric to Adult Epilepsy Care: Pilot Evaluation of an Epilepsy Transition Clinic

Abstract

We established an institutional Epilepsy Transition Clinic in 2023. As a pilot evaluation, we compared demographics of clinic patients (2023-2024) with youth with epilepsy seen 2019-2022. We compared the proportion of transition clinic patients vs historical controls who attended their first adult appointment within 6 months of their last pediatric appointment. We surveyed families with the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM). We treated 39 patients in 2023-2024 (49% female) in the transition clinic. Clinic patients were similar by sex and race/ethnicity to 274 historical controls (P > .05) but were more likely to have intellectual disability (25% vs 66%) and drug-resistant epilepsy (25% vs 51%) (P < .05). Thirty-two (82%) transition clinic patients attended their first adult appointment within 6 months of their last pediatric appointment vs 18 (19%) historical controls of 94 who transitioned (P < .05). Ten families (26%) completed interviews. Mean AIM score was 4.4/5. The transition clinic facilitated continuity of care and was acceptable.