Weichaun Dong, Houston Methodist Research Institute - Discovering America's Epilepsy Belt

On Houston Methodist Week: Is epilepsy more prevalent in certain regions of the country?

Weichuan Dong, assistant research professor of cardiology, examines whether it is.

Faculty Bio:

Dr. Weichuan Dong is a scientist in spatial epidemiology, population health, and machine learning, with a focus on how environmental and social factors shape chronic disease risk and outcomes. Dr. Dong’s work integrates large-scale clinical data, advanced AI/ML methods, and geospatial analysis to generate insights that support better prevention, diagnosis, and care delivery.

Dr. Dong has led and contributed to multidisciplinary projects across cardiology, cancer, neurology, and public health, partnering with clinicians, data scientists, and industry collaborators. His research has resulted in high-impact first-author publications (e.g. JAMA Neurology, JAMA Network Open, Annals of Surgery, JNCCN, CEBP, Cancers, and Nature Scientific Reports), national media coverage, and translational findings that inform healthcare systems and policy discussions.

Dr. Dong’s long-term goal is to bridge data science, healthcare, and real-world impact—advancing precision population health by turning complex datasets into actionable, scalable, and equitable solutions.

Transcript:

For decades, we’ve known about America’s “Stroke Belt”—a region in the South where stroke is especially common. But until now, we didn’t know whether epilepsy showed a similar pattern.

Our research analyzed health records from nearly five million Medicare beneficiaries across the United States. By combining data with advanced geographic mapping, we created the first nationwide map of new-onset epilepsy in older adults.

What we found was striking.

Epilepsy was not evenly distributed across the country. Instead, we identified an “Epilepsy Belt” stretching across parts of the South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, eastern Texas, and central Oklahoma, where older adults were much more likely to develop epilepsy.

Epilepsy risk later in life is shaped not only by biology, but also by the environments in which people live. Communities with higher epilepsy rates also tended to have more insufficient sleep, more days of extreme heat, lower levels of physical activity, and limited access to health care.

That does not mean these factors directly cause epilepsy. Many cases are related to stroke, brain injury, or other neurological diseases. But understanding why certain communities carry a greater burden may help identify where earlier detection, diagnosis, and targeted prevention efforts are needed most.

As our population ages and extreme heat becomes more common, understanding how communities shape brain health will become increasingly important. By revealing where epilepsy is most common—and the conditions those communities share—we hope to help public health leaders target resources where they can make the greatest difference.

Read More:

[JAMA Neurology] -Incidence and Risk Factors of Epilepsy Among Older Adults in the US Medicare Population

[Houston Methodist] - Discovering America’s ‘epilepsy belt’: First-of-its-kind national study reveals US regions with high epilepsy rates among older adults