Neurological Disorders in Saudi Children at the Al-Majardah General Hospital, Asir Region

Abstract

Saudi children with neurological disorders were seen at the Al-Majardah General Hospital, Asir Region. These constituted 7.5% of all the pediatric inpatients and outpatients. More than one-half of the children were under three years of age and 74% were six years and below. In the series, convulsive disorders accounted for 28.9% of cases, followed by cerebral palsy (18.9%), mental retardation (16.7%), infections (9.4%), trauma (8.9%), and disorders of the primary senses (6.7%). In 57% of the children, the lesions were due to acquired and mostly preventable etiological factors whereas approximately 24% of the children suffered from prenatal (congenital) disorders, some of which were also preventable. The need for continued appraisal of the maternal and child care services as well as extension of rehabilitative facilities to handicapped children in rural areas of the Kingdom is highlighted.

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

“…Febrile convulsions were not uncommon from the results of this study and the male excess conforms with the observation of other workers in Saudi Arabia as well as findings from other countries 7,25,26 . Although the prevalence rate in this study was similar to the figures reported from Guam, Italy and Sweden, it was however markedly lower than the figure of 9.4-136.2/1000 obtained in some other communities 1,26,27 .…”

Epidemiology of Cerebral Palsy among Children and Adolescents in Arabic-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The 32 included studies were published between 1984 and 2020. Most of the studies were from Saudi Arabia ( n = 10) [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], Jordan ( n = 8) [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], Egypt ( n = 6) [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ], and Iraq ( n = 4) [ 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Other studies were from Sudan ( n = 2) [ 57 , 58 ], Libya ( n = 1) [ 59 ], and Palestine ( n = 1) [ 60 ].…”

“…There were a variety of study designs. Most were of case-series ( n = 13) [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 53 , 55 , 56 ] and cross-sectional design ( n = 11) [ 29 , 31 , 39 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Other study designs included: case-control ( n = 5) [ 35 , 54 , 58 , 59 , 60 ], retrospective review ( n = 2) [ 37 , 57 ], and prospective/retrospective cohort ( n = 1) [ 30 ].…”

Trends of Neurological Disorders in Saudi Children

“…Izoura's and Anis' study (1992) from the Al Majarda area showed 28.9% of their cases were due to seizure disorders, 18.9% due to cerebral palsy and 16.7% were due to mental retardation. 11 Their relative lower frequencies for both the seizure disorders and mental retardation are possibly due to the fact that they have not included the cases of cerebral palsy, with either epilepsy or mental retardation, to the total percentage of each. However, there is no statistical difference in the frequency of most of the disorders between our study and theirs (P>0.05).…”