A house-to-house survey of epileptic seizures in an urban community of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

-Objective: To carry out a prevalence study about epileptic seizures and epilepsy in an urban lowincome population. Method: Prevalence study in a two-phase model: screening and diagnosis confirmation. It was applied a structured questionnaire in 982 people all effectively resident on March 1rst 2000 based on a population census previously carried out by the Nurse Faculty. One neurologist interviewed all the suspected cases. Results: It was detected 176 suspected cases of epileptic seizures: 156 with non-epileptic events, and 20 with epileptic seizures. The lifetime point prevalence was of 16.3 cases per 1000 inhabitants, and of active epilepsy, 5.1 / 1000. If we consider false negative diagnosis from the screening procedures, the lifetime pointprevalence rates until 20.8/1000. Conclusion: The prevalence data of epilepsy shows less impressive than in other Latin-American studies and even some Brazilian, but similar to other Brazilian studies. This suggests geographical diversity and/or methodological differences among studies. Anyway, probably the epilepsy prevalence in Rio de Janeiro is not so high as that found in the Latin countries rural areas.KEY WORDS: epilepsy, prevalence, community study.Estudo porta-a-porta sobre crises epilépticas em comunidade urbana do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil RESUMO -Objetivo: Estudar a prevalência de crises epilépticas e epilepsia em uma população urbana de baixa renda do Rio de Janeiro. Método: Estudo de prevalência, em um modelo de duas etapas: de triagem e de confirmação diagnóstica. Foi aplicado questionário estruturado de triagem em 982 pessoas. Todos os efetivamente residentes na comunidade em primeiro de março de 2000 (dia prevalente) eram os sujeitos em potencial. A população de estudo foi aquela que constava no censo efetuado pela Escola de Enfermagen Anna Nery. Um neurologista entrevistou os sujeitos suspeitos de apresentarem crises epilépticas. Resultados: Foram detectados 176 casos suspeitos de crises epilépticas: 156 casos com eventos não epilépticos e 20 com crises epilépticas. A prevalência acumulada na comunidade foi 16,3 casos por 1000 habitantes e a de epilepsia ativa foi 5,1 / 1000. Caso se considere o diagnóstico falso negativo da fase de triagem, a prevalência acumulada iria a 20,8/1000. Conclusão: Os dados de prevalência mostram-se menores do que de outros países latinoamericanos e mesmo de alguns brasileiros, mas similares a outros nacionais, o que sugere diversidade geográfica e/ou diferenças metodológicas entre os estudos. A prevalência de epilepsia no Rio de Janeiro provavelmente não é tão alta quanto a de outros países latinos, principalmente nas suas regiões rurais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: epilepsia, prevalência, estudo de campo.

Comparing standard medical care for nonepileptic seizures in Chile and the United States

“…Gap examples include access to and availability of medical facilities [13,16,19,21,22] and medical diagnostic tools [16], appropriately trained medical care professionals [16,19,21], and diagnostic/ treatment facilities limited to larger cities and their surrounding areas, as these are usually serviced by at least one university hospital and several smaller hospitals and health care facilities. Cultural beliefs about ES [16,19,23], including stigmatization of people diagnosed with seizures, may also contribute to the treatment gap [19,21,22,24]. Other factors include limited knowledge of effective treatment options [18,21,22], high health care costs [16,21,22] and health insurance availability [16,19].…”

Prevalence of seizures and associated factors in children under five living in a deprived municipality of southern Brazil

“…In the city of Porto Alegre in the state of rio Grande do sul, a cross-sectional study indicated an accumulated prevalence rate of 36.8/1000 for epilepsy 8 . In rio de Janeiro city, another study found an accumulated prevalence of 16.3/1000 cases 9 . In são José do rio Preto, são Paulo state 10 , a study of prevalence in the urban population was conducted and an accumulated prevalence of 18.6/1000 inhabitants, and 8.2/1000 for active epilepsy was found over the past two years.…”

Psychiatric Comorbidities of Epilepsy: A Review

“…Seizures most often originate in amygdalo-hippocampal region, in the medial and basal portion of temporal lobe. Hence, mesial temporal epilepsy (MTE) is the most frequent focal epilepsy [29][30][31][32].…”