PREVALENCE OF EPILEPSY IN KELIBIA, TUNISIA

A door-to-door survey was made in Kelibia, Tunisia to determine the pr evalence of major neurologic disorders, including epilepsy. The survey was made according to a World Health Organization (WHO) protocol (198 1). All individuals responding positively to the screening tool were e xamined by a neurologic team using well-defined diagnostic criteria. O ne hundred forty-one individuals, alive on prevalence day (July 1, 198 5), were identified as having active epilepsy, giving a crude prevalen ce ratio of 4.04 per 1,000 and an age-adjusted (on WHO population) pre valence ratio of 3.64 per 1,000. Prevalence ratios increase with age ( in children and young adults with the highest prevalence ratio at simi lar to-20 years) and decrease after 40 years. The most frequently iden tified type was generalized convulsive seizures (93%). The most freque ntly associated conditions were cerebral palsy and mental retardation.