ERI: Epilepsy in Women: Monitoring and Management using Noninvasive Wearable Sensors

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

Almost 1% of the world's population lives with epilepsy and half of them are women, whose seizures and antiseizure medicines affect their menstrual cycle, pregnancy, menopause, and bone health. Hormonal changes in women can influence seizure risk and are associated with changes in biological signals measured by wearable devices, such as temperature and heart rate variability, and can be linked to seizure patterns. This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) award focuses on improving the quality of life of women with epilepsy by creating forecasting algorithms that can help manage dosing of antiseizure medication based on predicted seizure risk. The proposed research will provide training opportunities for a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students and the focus will be to engage female students in research.

The proposed research investigates hormonal changes associated with the menstrual cycle and their effects on seizure risk in women by analyzing physiological signals recorded with non-invasive wearable devices. The ability to forecast seizures, minutes to hours in advance has already been verified using data from invasive EEG (Electroencephalography) devices; however, it is still a challenge to do this using noninvasive wearable devices. The performance of the machine learning algorithms for seizure forecasting could be significantly improved if the seizure risk associated with hormonal changes be considered in the design to mitigate false alarms and improve sensitivity. Designing a reliable seizure forecasting algorithm will allow patients to use lower baseline doses of medications, with escalated doses given during times of high seizure risk. Additionally, investigating the gender-specific parameters affecting seizure risk and implementing them in managing epilepsy will lead to significant improvements in quality of life for women with epilepsy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.