PREVALENCE OF EPILEPSY IN A MIGRANT POPULATION NEAR QUITO, ECUADOR

A census, uniform screening questionnaire and simple screening neurolo gic examination were administered door to door to the 221 residents of Paluguillo, a rural migrant community near Quito, Ecuador. This proto col was pretested to assure a high level of sensitivity for detecting major neurologic diseases in both children and adults. Of the particip ants, 119 (54%) had responses or findings suggesting the presence of n eurologic disease, and, in particular, 53 (24%) had responses suggesti ve of epilepsy. These individuals were then examined by neurologists u sing fixed diagnostic criteria. The prevalence ratio for epilepsy was found to be 22.6/1,000. The results of this survey support the conclus ion that epilepsy has a higher prevalence in rural areas of socioecono mically deprived countries than it does in industrialized nations.