Pattern of Childhood Epilepsy and Outcome Determinants at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Authors

  • Gashaw Asnakew UoG
  • Endale Tefera UoG

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v5i1.196

Keywords:

Epilepsy, Children, Predictors of poor seizure remission

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is the most common cause of neurologic disability throughout the world. The majority of the cases live in developing countries. In Ethiopia epilepsy is an important public health problem; however, little information is available on childhood epilepsy.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the clinical profile and treatment outcome of childhood epilepsy.

Methods: A cross sectional study of 246 epileptic children who were followed up for at least 6 months  in a seizure clinic at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital was conducted over a 6 month period, February1-October 31, 2007. Using a structured and pretested questionnaire, data on Socio-demographic information, age at onset of seizure, frequency of seizures before start of AED ,duration of seizure before start of treatment , description of seizure, risk factors for seizure, EEG reports, and the prescribed treatment were collected, entered and analyzed with SPSS 12.0 software. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and P-value were calculated for predictors of poor seizure remission.

Results: There were149 (60.6%} male and 97(39.4 %) female epilepsy patients with a mean age of 7.1± 2.9.years, and the median age at onset of seizure 3.5± 2.7 years. Fifty-five (22.3%) had   their first seizure at or before 1 year of age. There was a delay before presentation to hospital with mean and median interval of 0.81±1.18 and 0.3 year, respectively. Generalized epilepsy was the most common type of epilepsy present in 171(69.5%) of the patients. Partial seizure and multiple seizure types were seen in (15.9%) and (14.6%) of the patients, respectively. The majority (63%) of the patients were on monotherapy. Eighty-one (32.1%) of the patients had poor seizure remission. Further bivariate analysis revealed that seven factors were independently correlated with seizure remission. These were(1) multiple seizure types(OR=6.76, 95%CI: 3.08-14.82,P=0.0001),(2) a high frequency of seizures(OR=6.75, 95%CI:3.46-13.18, P=0.0001),(3)poor cognitive development(OR=4.35, 95%CI: 2.20-8.61, P=0.006) (4) associated motor abnormality(OR=2.60 95%CI: 1.35-4.97, P=0.004)(5), Cerebral palsy(OR 0.23 CI 0.08-0.66,P=0.006) (6) polytherapy{OR 13.72 CI 7.22-26.06,P=0.0001),and (7) poor compliance to treatment (OR 12.59 CI 6.16-25.73,P=0.0001).                                                                                                            Conclusion and Recommendation: This study shows a high rate of poor seizure remission despite anticonvulsant therapy. The findings confirm the need for more specialized neurological care for children.

 

Author Biographies

Gashaw Asnakew, UoG

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, University of Gondar  

Endale Tefera, UoG

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University

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Published

2021-07-14

How to Cite

1.
Asnakew G, Tefera E. Pattern of Childhood Epilepsy and Outcome Determinants at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ethiop J Health Biomed Sci [Internet]. 2021 Jul. 14 [cited 2024 Dec. 5];5(1):29-35. Available from: https://journal.uog.edu.et/index.php/EJHBS/article/view/196

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Orginal Articles