Prevalence of epilepsy in northeast Madrid

During a period of 42 months, we studied the prevalence of epilepsy in a sp ecific health district, composing by four towns with 98,405 inhabitants old er than 10 years. This has been accomplished by a two-phase cross-sectional study. The prevalence rate observed was 4.12/1000 inhabitants for all type s of epilepsy. No significant differences were found between the sexes. Six ty-three per cent of affected individuals had partial seizures, with a conf irmed cause in 45 %. Fifty-five patients with single unprovoked seizures, w ere also identified but not included in the prevalence rate.