The prevalence of epilepsy and other seizure disorders in an Arab population: a community-based study

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of epilepsy and other convulsive disor ders and the causes of symptomatic epilepsies in a Saudi Arabian population . Methods: Door to door survey of a restricted area inhabited by 23 700 Saudi nationals. The World Health Organization (WHO) protocol designed to detect neurological disorders was used as screening instrument. All patients with probable seizures were examined by a neurologist and 92% of positive cases were investigated by brain computed tomography (CT) and electroencephalogr am (EEG). Results: Prevalence rate (PR) for active epilepsy was 6.54/ 1000 population (95% confidence interval 5.48-7.60). Twenty-eight percent of the patients had partial seizures. 21% generalized seizures and in 51%, it was not possi ble to determine if the generalized seizures had focal onset or not. The ep ilepsy was symptomatic in 32% of the cases: pre or perinatal encephalopathy 23%, head injury 4%, childhood neurological infection 4% and stroke 1%. Fe brile convulsions PR was 3.55/1000 children under the age of 6 years and is olated seizures were documented in only 0.18/1000 population. Conclusions: The PR of epilepsy in Saudi Arabs is within the range of the v alues reported in most communities. The causes of symptomatic epilepsies re vealed a predominance of perinatal and inherited factors. Isolated and non- convulsive seizures were probably under-recognized due to various social an d cultural factors as well as to lack of sensitivity of the questionnaire f or non-convulsive seizures. (C) 2001 BEA Trading Ltd.