Epilepsy trends in Kazakhstan: A retrospective longitudinal study using data from unified national electronic health system 2014–2020

Objective

This study is designed to estimate the epidemiology of epilepsy in Kazakhstan, using a large-scale administrative health database during 2014–2020.

Methods

Using the Unified National Electronic Health System of Kazakhstan over a seven-year span, we explored incidence and prevalence rates, disability-adjusted life years (DALY), and all-cause mortality. Regression models using Cox proportional hazards were used to analyze the sociodemographic, mental, behavioral, and neurological factors affecting survival. Overall analyses were performed using STATA (V.16).

Results

The total cohort comprised of 82,907 patients, with a significant increase in the incidence of epilepsy from 26.15 in 2014 to 88.80 in 2020 per 100,000 people. Similar trends were observed in the prevalence rates, which tripled from 26.06 in 2014 to 73.10 in 2020. While mortality rates fluctuated, the elderly and children had the greatest rates of 9.97 and 2.98 per 1000 person-years respectively. DALYs revealed a substantial disease burden, with 153,532 DALYs (824.5 per 100,000) being lost during the study period. A few comorbidities, such as cerebral palsy (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 2.23) and central nervous system atrophy (aHR, 27.79), markedly elevated all-cause mortality. Furthermore, extrapyramidal and movement disorders (aHR 2.16, p = 0.06) and demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (aHR 6.36, p = 0.06) showed a trend toward increased mortality risk.

Conclusion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study from Central Asia exploring a large epilepsy cohort. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to address the growing burden of epilepsy, particularly among children, male sex, and those with neurological comorbities.