Neuroepidemiology of epileptic seizures: A study from a tertiary care setting of Eastern India

Abstract

Neurological diseases occupy a major chunk of the burden of Non Communicable disease all over the world. Epilepsy is one of the most important Neurological diseases in India. It has complex etiology and is characterized by recurrent seizures. The study was conducted to To study the clinicosocial  profile of the epilepsy patients under study and to find out the predictors of seizure free status in them. A descriptive cross sectional study carried out in Neuromedicine OPD involving 315 diagnosed epilepsy patients selected by systematic random sampling. The selected patients and their caregivers were interviewed with the predesigned, pretested semistructured proforma.  Data were compiled and analysed using SPSS software. Majority of the study subjects was in the age group of 16-30 years with completed primary education and were unskilled labours and belonged to class IV and V of Prasad’s economic status scale. Almost twenty four percent (23.8per cent) has their onset of fits between 11 to 15 years. Mean duration of epilepsy was 7.93 ± 6.44 years for males and 9.84 ± 7.96 years for females and the difference was not statistically significant ( p= 0.99). Family history of epilepsy was present in 14.3per cent cases. Almost 35.0per cent had complex partial seizure, 30.2per cent simple partial seizure and 26per cent had generalized tonic-clonic seizure. About 15.0per cent of the total participants reported to have some precipitating or provocating factors. Regarding the treatment received by the study subjects, 55.2per cent were on monotherapy and 44.8per cent on polytherapy.Family history of epilepsy and presence of addiction were found to be significant predictors of seizure free status in the study population .