Status of follow-up among patients with epilepsy in epilepsy clinic.

Out of 238 consecutive patients entering our epilepsy clinic from October 1988 till March 1990, the status of follow-up was evaluated in October 1990. One hundred patients (42%) could adhere to the follow-up appointment and 33 patients (14%) visited the clinic irregularly. A total of 105 patients (44%) failed to return for the follow-up at least for 2 months dated backward from October 1990. Seventy-five percent of the patients lost the follow-up within 6 months. The main reasons of the dropout were poor seizure control, seizure free, denial of epilepsy, receiving operation in other hospitals. The appropriate strategies to aid in adherence to medical care among patients with epilepsy should be formulated through the analysis of factors contributing to the dropout, which might be strongly influenced by different medical and sociocultural backgrounds all over the world.