Lowerison MW, Josephson CB, Jetté N, et al. - Researchers investigated how the level of specialist care (non-neurologist, neurologist, or comprehensive epilepsy program) influence premature mortality in epilepsy. They performed a retrospective open cohort study including all adult patients 18 years or older who met the administrative case definition for incident epilepsy from linked databases (Alberta Health Services administrative health data and the Comprehensive Calgary Epilepsy Programme Registry [CEP]) from the years 2002 to 2016. The participants were followed up until death or loss to follow-up. They identified a total 23,653 incident cases(annual incidence of 89 per 100,000); the mean age at index date was 50.8 (19.1) years and 12,158 (50.3%) were women. No exposure to specialist neurological care was reported in a total of 14,099 (60%) patients, receipt of care by a neurologist was reported in 9,554 (40%), and receipt of care in the CEP was reported in 2,054 (9%). As per findings, participants receiving care from a neurologist or an epilepsy specialist exhibit reduced risks of premature mortality compared with those unexposed to neurological care when controlling for age, sex, sociodemographic factors, disease severity, and comorbidities. This suggests an association of exposure to specialist care with incremental reductions in the hazard of premature mortality. The greatest benefit was observed in those referred to a comprehensive epilepsy program.