title: Epilepsy following non-missile head injury among African people in Dar es Salaam: a retrospective clinical analysis study.
abstract: Over a period of 2 years, 26 subjects with epilepsy following non-missile head injury were referred to the neurology clinic at Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam. The mean age was 28.5 yr. Twenty of these subjects were males. Sixteen (62%) were victims of road traffic accidents, six (23%) had direct blows of the head and four (15%) had fallen from heights. The first late seizure occurred 2 weeks after injury in all subjects. Fifty-eight per cent had the first late seizure between the third and seventh month after injury. Only 8% had the first seizure after 1 year of injury. Posttraumatic amnesia of over 24 h was the commonest recorded complication and occurred in 58% of subjects. Other complications were: depressed fracture (31%), acute intracranial haematoma (27%) and early seizures (12%). Twenty per cent of subjects had no complications. The role of the head injury complications as a factor in increasing the risk of late epilepsy as well as individual susceptibility to seizures is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Unit, Muhimbili Medical Centre, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Matuja
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013636:Tanzania