INTRODUCTION: Epilepsy is a disease with great social and economic impact. The prevalence should be used as the most important basis for planning the secondary and tertiary prevention. AIMS: To identify patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy in a primary care center and determine the prevalence, demographic characteristics, type of epileptic syndrome and the use of antiepileptic drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Included 196 patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy belonging to a primary care center and review the medical history, studying socio-demographic variables and clinical-pharmacological. RESULTS: The prevalence of epilepsy: 8.4/1000 inhabitants. Mean age: 50.3 years. Sex: 52.6% men. SCOPE: 79.6% urban. Family history of epilepsy: 14.8%. Type of epilepsy: symptomatic focal stroke (14.3%), idiopathic generalized (13.8%), focal cryptogenic (8.7%), not classified (31.1%). Average age at the beginning of seizures: 31.6 years. Neurological and/or psychiatric comorbidity: 62.8%. Last follow-up: 18.9% without antiepileptic treatment, 56.6% monotherapy and 24.5% polytherapy. Seizure-free: 76.5%. Drugs most frequently prescribed: valproic acid, carbamazepine, phenytoin, lamotrigine, levetiracetam. 78.6% without side effects. Exitus: 4.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of patients with epilepsy was 8.4/1000 inhabitants, most frequent etiology the symptomatic focal stroke. More than half of patients suffered neurological and/or psychiatric comorbidity. At the end of follow-up the great majority were seizure-free without adverse effects of the antiepileptic drug treatment.
INTRODUCTION:Epilepsy is a disease with great social and economic impact. The prevalence should be used as the most important basis for planning the secondary and tertiary prevention. AIMS: To identify patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy in a primary care center and determine the prevalence, demographic characteristics, type of epileptic syndrome and the use of antiepileptic drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Included 196 patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy belonging to a primary care center and review the medical history, studying socio-demographic variables and clinical-pharmacological. RESULTS: The prevalence of epilepsy: 8.4/1000 inhabitants. Mean age: 50.3 years. Sex: 52.6% men. SCOPE: 79.6% urban. Family history of epilepsy: 14.8%. Type of epilepsy: symptomatic focal stroke (14.3%), idiopathic generalized (13.8%), focal cryptogenic (8.7%), not classified (31.1%). Average age at the beginning of seizures: 31.6 years. Neurological and/or psychiatric comorbidity: 62.8%. Last follow-up: 18.9% without antiepileptic treatment, 56.6% monotherapy and 24.5% polytherapy. Seizure-free: 76.5%. Drugs most frequently prescribed: valproic acid, carbamazepine, phenytoin, lamotrigine, levetiracetam. 78.6% without side effects. Exitus: 4.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of patients with epilepsy was 8.4/1000 inhabitants, most frequent etiology the symptomatic focal stroke. More than half of patients suffered neurological and/or psychiatric comorbidity. At the end of follow-up the great majority were seizure-free without adverse effects of the antiepileptic drug treatment.
Authors: David J Thurman; Charles E Begley; Arturo Carpio; Sandra Helmers; Dale C Hesdorffer; Jie Mu; Kamadore Touré; Karen L Parko; Charles R Newton Journal: Epilepsia Date: 2018-04-10 Impact factor: 5.864