[Neuroepidemiology of epilepsy in Senegalese school milieu].
The authors proceeded to a 7 month long prevalence survey on epilepsy in the schools of the regions of Dakar and Thies in Senegal, West africa. It consisted to a cross sectional descriptive study targeting the children between 3 and 10 years old. The W.H.O. questionnaire on epilepsy was used for data collection. Among the 2803 children of the population study, 58 were detected suffering from epilepsy, realizing a prevalence rate of 21%. The males were more represented (62% of the epilepsies). All the epileptic children presented generalized seizures represented either by "Grand Mal" generalized tonic-clonic form (84.4% of the epilepsies), or by "Petit Mal" absences (15.6% of the epilepsies). The etiological forms were dominated by idiopathic epilepsies. Secondary generalized cases represented 31% of the epilepsy and were essentially detected in rural areas. They were usually related to obstetrical traumas (61.1% of the secondary generalized epilepsies) or to child encephalopathy with seizure attacks (38.9% of the secondary generalized epilepsies). It appears also from this study that epilepsy remains a dramatic public health reality and is more frequent among low economy income people who have less access to the health care system.
Agbohoui
O
O
Clinique Neurologique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fann Dajar, Sénégal.
Sene-Diouf
F
F
Ba
M
M
Ndiaye
M
M
Diagne
M
M
Diop
A G
AG
Ndiaye
I P
IP
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003241:Consanguinity; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D012574:Schools; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires