The treatment outcomes of epilepsy and its root causes in children attending at the University of Gondar teaching hospital: A retrospective cohort study, 2018

Abstract

Background Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurologic disorder which affects an estimated 10.5 million children worldwide. Despite the burden, the scarcity of study held in Ethiopia. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the treatment outcomes of epilepsy and its root causes in children with epilepsy. Methods A hospital-based retrospective cohort study was conducted from October 10/2017 up to October 10/2018. A total of 210 study participants who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were included in the study. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire with a document review was used to collect data. The data were entered into Epi Info version 7.2.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics were computed. Simple logistic analysis was run (at 95% CI and p-value < 0.05) to identify factors associated with treatment outcome.

Treatment Outcome of Epileptic Patients Receiving Antiepileptic Drugs in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Twentythree primary studies were included in the present systematic review and meta-analysis. These studies were conducted in different parts of Ethiopia (from Amhara seven primary articles [7,[13][14][15][16][17][18], Oromiya eight [8,9,[19][20][21][22][23][24], Addis Ababa four [25][26][27][28], Tigray two [9,29], and Southern Nation, Nationalities, and People two articles) [30,31]. The sample size of the included primary studies was considerably variable ranging from 121 to 415 participants.…”

“…Regarding the seizurefree period, two studies assessed seizure freedom over one month [6,21], one study over two months [17], two studies over three months [7,14,25], and the remaining studies assessed seizure freedom over at least six months. Concerning the age groups, one study included only pediatric patients [7], two studies included all age group patients [13,19], and the remaining studies included only adult patients [6,8,9,[14][15][16][17][18][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. Regarding the antiepileptic drugs, most of the patients were treated with monotherapy and the commonly used drugs were phenobarbitone, phenytoin, carbamazepine, and valproic acid [6-8, 17, 20, 26].…”

“…The pooled prevalence of seizure freedom varied by the duration of seizure-free period, and the higher pooled prevalence of seizure freedom (58%) was found in seizure-free period of less than 6 months (Figure 5). [13], male gender [7], monotherapy [28], alcohol consumption, negative belief towards medication, presence of comorbidity ( 29), head injury, sleep deprivation, and exposure to noise and light [17] were reported to be associated with uncontrolled seizure. Although a number of factors were reported as determinant of uncontrolled seizure, variables reported as predictors of uncontrolled seizure among at least two primary studies were considered for this meta-analysis.…”

“…For patients with medicationresistant convulsive epilepsy, newer antiepileptic drugs like lamotrigine, levetiracetam, and topiramate should be offered as add-on therapy [5]. In Ethiopia, there was discrepancy on the prevalence of controlled seizure among patients receiving antiepileptic drugs that ranges from 8% to 93.8% [6,7]. Poor treatment outcome can be due to nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs [8,9], and most patients rely on traditional treatments of epilepsy such as local herbs, holy water, and amulets [4].…”

Genistein Protects Epilepsy-Induced Brain Injury Through Regulating The JAK2/STAT3 and Keap1/Nrf2 Signaling Pathways in The Developing Rats

“…Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease that impacts all demographics and places a heavy socioeconomic burden on both patients and the healthcare system. It is estimated that 10.5 million children worldwide suffer from epilepsy, and 80% of epilepsy patients live in low-and middle-income countries [1] . The causes of epilepsy are complex and diverse, including genetic and metabolic factors, immune abnormalities, trauma, infection, and systemic diseases [2,3,4] .…”