Nazeefa Javed, Atiqur Rehman Khan, Kashif Saleem.
Local epidemiological survey of epilepsy.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;5(4):708-12.

Objective: To study different variables relevant to epidemiolology of epilepsy in a tertiary care hospital. Study design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Place and duration: Fatima Memorial Hospital Lahore from February 2010 to August 2011. Methods: History, physical examination and EEG were done in 304 epileptics who walked in Neurology outpatient clinic and some inpatients who presented to the hospital with chief complaint other than a history of seizure. Results: The mean age of occurrence of an epileptic fit was 7 years of age in pediatric age group and the age was 27 years in the adult age group. Gender predominance was same among both groups. History of fall was more common 25% and 14% in both pediatric and adult groups respectively. The common triggering factor was lack of sleep among both groups. Drug taking patterns of monotherapy and polytherapy were also noted among both groups. Number of noncompliant patients was found to be 9.5% and 29.5% in pediatric and adult age groups, respectively. The witnessed seizure frequency was the same among both groups (97.6%in pediatric group and 96.4% in adult group). Breakthrough seizures were 39.3% and 44.1%in pediatric and adult age groups respectively. Frequency of treatment gap was found to be 50% in pediatric age group and 45.8% in adult age group followed by sleep deprivation. Conclusion: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder of great concern. Its burden is increasing in our country and this study is an effort to emphasize magnitude of this disorder and all the important aspects associated with it.

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