KUMJ | VOL. 1 | NO. 1 | ISSUE 1 | JAN-MAR, 2003

Epilepsy in children: an epidemiological study at Kathmandu
Shakya KN, Shrestha R, Baral MR,

Abstract:
Objectives: To analyze the relative frequencies of various epileptic seizures and to study the age at onset of different seizure types in Nepalese children. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Hospital outpatient based in Kathmandu, Nepal, between November 2001 to October 2002. Participants: 50 children diagnosed as epilepsy excluding neonatal and febrile seizures. Main outcome measure: Diagnosis and classification of cases according to the International Classification of Epilepsy of the International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE] and number of patients in each category with various ages at first seizure. Result: Generalized seizures (78%) were 3.54 times commoner than partial seizures (22%). Most frequent seizure types were generalized tonic clonic (36%), tonic (16%), complex partial (14%), atonic (12%) and absence (10%). Generalized clonic, simple partial and partial with secondary generalization, each had less than 5% frequencies. In 40% cases the first seizure occurred when aged between 2-5 years. In partial seizures the peak age at onset was observed below 6 years while primary generalized seizure was more frequently seen in age group 2-10 years. Conclusion: More paediatric patients with primary generalized seizures (78%) were observed than with partial seizures (22%). In this age group, the most frequent seizure type was generalized tonic clonic (36%) with the peak frequency of age at onset of seizures in 2-5 years.
Keyword : Epilepsy, Frequency, Age at onset.