A systematic review of the epidemiology of epilepsy in Arab countries

Abstract

Summary In this report the epidemiologic aspects of epilepsy in Arab countries are systematically reviewed. MEDLINE and Embase were searched, and six papers were identified: one incidence report from Qatar and five prevalence reports (two from Sudan, and one from each of Libya, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia). An incidence of 174 per 100,000 persons in 2001 was reported in a hospital‐based study from Qatar. Prevalence ranged between 0.9/1,000 in Sudan and 6.5/1,000 in Saudi Arabia, with a median of 2.3/1,000. An approximate 724,500 people with epilepsy live in the Arab world. All the studies report higher prevalence in males, which was statistically significant in the Saudi study. The prevalence is approximately 2‐fold higher in children and young adults, compared to the rates in middle age. Two studies showed a high prevalence in individuals older than 60 years of age. Primary generalized seizures are reported in 28–97% of cases, partial seizures in 3–43.8%, and unclassified seizures in 18–51%. Idiopathic epilepsy represents 73.5–82.6% of cases. Early childhood brain damage such as in cerebral palsy and mental retardation represented a major cause of symptomatic epilepsy, whereas infection was the main cause in Sudan. The epidemiologic data from Arab states are lacking, especially from populous countries like Egypt, Algeria, and Syria. Well‐designed studies are needed to accurately determine the burden of epilepsy in the Arab world.

Epidemiological study of epilepsy from a tertiary care hospital in kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…In our study, there was slight female preponderance which was statistically not significant, but is different from many of the epidemiological studies of epilepsy in Arab community 4,5,6 but has been reported from other parts of the world as one of the epidemiological study from Pakistan also showed slight female preponderance 9 and this female preponderance has also been reported from Nigeria 10 and Jordan.…”

“…6 Epidemiological studies about epilepsy from Arab countries especially Saudi Arabia are lacking. We were able to find only few studies about the prevalence of seizure disorder in an Arab population 5,7 and even sparser from Saudi Arabia. 4,8 we were unable to find any study regarding epidemiology of Epilepsy from our hospital.…”

“…3 According to one of the prevalence study available from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2001, the prevalence of epilepsy was found to be 6.54 per 1000 4 and in other Arab countries )Sudan, Libya and Tunisia( was about 2.3/1000. 5 The incidence of epilepsy has been found to be substantially greater in developing countries compared with developed countries. 6 Epidemiological studies about epilepsy from Arab countries especially Saudi Arabia are lacking.…”

Prevalence and incidence of epilepsy

“…Estimates of the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy worldwide vary considerably, likely reflecting differences in measurement and reporting, along with clinical characteristics such as etiology and seizure type. Previous systematic reviews of the prevalence of epilepsy focused on specific regions (China, 5 Europe, 6 Latin America, 7 and Arab countries 8 ) and prior reviews on the incidence of epilepsy did not use meta-analyses to explore associated factors. 9,10 Few of these studies explored potential sources of heterogeneity between estimates or they examined both prevalence and incidence globally.…”

Antiepileptic activity of total triterpenes isolated fromPoria cocosis mediated by suppression of aspartic and glutamic acids in the brain

“…Patients with epilepsy are characterized by depression, anxiety, convulsions, and even loss of consciousness (Clancy et al 2014;Maguire et al 2014). Although efficient antiepileptic drugs and surgical procedures have improved during the past decade, these treatments are still unaffordable for most patients due to the high cost (Benamer & Grosset 2009;Newton & Garcia 2012;Beghi & Hesdorffer 2014). Furthermore, nearly all antiepileptic drugs have safety concerns and side effects (Malagon-Valdez 2004;Kaufman 2011), and an increasing number of patients are drug resistant (Noam et al 2013;Laxer et al 2014).…”