The Epilepsy Prevalence Among School Children in lzmir Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the epilepsy prevalence among school childrenbetween age 7 - 17 in lzmir Province.Methods: Sample was consisted of 4.654 primary and high school students out of 420,054 in İzmir Metropolitan area. Sample size calculated by stratified random sampling teqnique. A questionnaire, which was prepared according to the "Guidelines for Epidemiologic Studies which is proposed by The Commission on Epidemiology andPrognosis, lnternational League Against Epilepsy in 1993" used for data collection. For the 130 (3.8%) students whose families gave positive "epilepsy history" telephone interview was conducted in order to verify the diagnosis and evaluation of risk factors.Results: Response rate was 89.7% (4216 questionnaire). 47 (36.2%) out of 130 epilepsy history positive cases, were diagnosed and/or registered in a follow-up program for epilepsy by a neurology clinic, at the time of study. Crude prevalence rates for females, males and total study population were found 11.3/1000, 11.1/1000 and 11.2/1000, respectively. Prevalence of active epilepsy rates for females, males and total study population were found 4.5/1000, 7.0/1000 and 5.6/1000, respectively. Age adjusted epilepsy prevalence rates for females, males and total study population were found as 10.0/1000, 15.2/1000 and 1000, respectively. Conclusion: Although epilepsy countinous to be an important health problem in Turkey calculated prevalence rates are close to developed nations rates.