Total healthcare costs per year fell after pediatric epilepsy surgery
Impact of pediatric epilepsy surgery on healthcare resource use.
Alex S Aguirre … Iván Sánchez Fernández
Epilepsy research · Aug 2026
Purpose
To quantify healthcare resource use before and after epilepsy surgery among pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, stratifying by type of surgery, type of insurance, race, and ethnicity.
Methods
Retrospective descriptive study of the Pediatric Health Information System (Pediatric Health Information System) database in the period 2004-2024.
n = 1288 patients
Results
$15,571 vs $28,100
yearly healthcare costs dropped by nearly half after surgery
n = 1288 patients
More results
1288 patients (median (p 25 -p 75 ) age at first epilepsy surgery: 11.0 (6.8-15.3) years, 43% females) had a total of 1538 epilepsy surgeries.
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Conclusion · 1 of 2
Among pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, healthcare resource use substantially decreases after epilepsy surgery, especially when the patient does not require subsequent epilepsy surgeries.
Conclusion · 2 of 2
Results were similar for all types of insurance, for all races, and for all ethnicities.