Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is an important, specifically defined syndrome. However, mortality in epilepsy overall is a much broader issue. There are many possible determinants of increased incidence of premature mortality in patients with epilepsy,7 with major determinants including cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, neoplasms, pneumonia, suicide, accidents, seizure-related mortality (ie, status epilepticus), and SUDEP.8 The percentage of SUDEP as a cause of mortality in patients with epilepsy overall varies depending on the study population. Ficker et al5 found SUDEP accounted for 1.6% of all deaths in their population-based epilepsy cohort, while Aurlien et al8 found SUDEP as the cause of death in 7.1% of all patient deaths in their hospital-based cohort of patients with epilepsy. Therefore, SUDEP accounts for a relatively small proportion of the overall mortality in patients with epilepsy.