No abstract

Methods:In this retrospective epidemiological study, we analyzed the medical records of the patients with the diagnosis of epilepsy during the study period )January 1st 2016-December 2016( Results:The study included 184 patients, 91 )49.5%( were males and 93 )50.5%( females. Age ranged between 12 and 85 years )mean 35.4±19.5 SD years(. Most of the patients 150 )82%( had Generalized tonic clonic seizures followed by focal onset in 27 )14%( of the patients. Main EEG abnormality was focal to bilateral was recorded in 53 )41%(, idiopathic/ cryptogenic epilepsy was diagnosed in 61% of the patients. The most common abnormalities on brain imaging were temporal/hippocampal atrophy/stroke. The most common cause of symptomatic epilepsy was stroke found in 20)11%( followed by post infectious epilepsy and head trauma. Conclusion:Seizure types, EEG characteristics and etiologies of symptomatic epilepsy in our cohort of patients are in accordance with the current literature. Slight discrepancy observed in gender distribution and etiologies for symptomatic epilepsy compared with other studies from Saudi Arabia need to be studied further by prospective and population base studies.

Context:Medication nonadherence is a significant barrier in achieving seizure freedom in patients with epilepsy. There is a deficiency of data about the reasons for nonadherence in Saudi population.Aims:The aim of this study is to prove the existence of nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in patients with epilepsy and identify the responsible factors.Setting and Design:This is a prospective, cross-sectional study carried in the Department of Neurology at King Fahd Hospital of the University affiliated with Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University.Subjects and Methods:Patients of all ages diagnosed to have epilepsy as mentioned in their medical record and taking antiepileptic medications were interviewed using a questionnaire.Statistical Analysis Used:Statistical analysis was performed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Statistical significance was defined as two-tailed with a P ≤ 0.05.Results:Among 152 participants, 52.6% were male and 47.4% were female. Mean age of the patients was 28 ± 14.3 (mean ± standard deviation) years. Of 152 patients, 48.7% were found to be nonadherent to their AED therapy. The most commonly identified factor was forgetfulness. Nonadherence was significantly associated with poor seizure control (P = 0.002).Conclusion:Nonadherence to the AED is common among patients with epilepsy and affects seizure control adversely.