[Study on the diagnosis, treatment and requirement of epilepsy patients in urban communities].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the diagnosis,treatment and requirement of epilepsy patients in some urban communities in China, and to provide the evidence of searching for effective treatment and management on epilepsy under the China's context.


METHODS
A face-to-face survey were conducted in 3 urban communities in Shanghai, Beijing and Changsha, respectively. The questions in the questionniare were general information, hospital visit, treatment, the level and way of getting on the knowledge of epilepsy, as well as the current obstacles and needs.


RESULTS
Most of the patients selected the regular hospitals (90.8%) and the departments (92.3%) for their epielspy diagnosis and treatment. They used AEDs modo dictu (77.4%), and had controlled the seizures quite well (82.6%). A small part of patients still could not deeply understand the basic knowledge on epilepsy (13.5%). They ignored to follow up the drug concentration (45.8%) in blood and the blood biocheminstry indicators (43.9%). Some patients went to private clinics (12.9%) and used lay people remedies (7.7%). Longtime waiting (36.8%), inconvenient traffic (23.2%), and high expenses (22.6%) were the main problems influencing the timely treatment. The main obstacles of the patients were employment (47.2%), marriage (29.9%), psychological conditions (44.4%) and interpersonal relationship (29.9%). The main requirements were the effectiveness (87.0%) and cheap AEDs (40.9%) as well as the convenience of hospital visit (37.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
It is very important to emphasize knowledge and publicity/education on epilepsy as well as the psychological treatment according to the requirements of patients.
Ding
Ding
D
The Institute of Neurology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
Jiang
Bin
B
Liu
Yun-hai
YH
Wang
Wen-zhi
WZ
Wu
Jian-zhong
JZ
Yang
Qi-dong
QD
Zhang
Li
L
Li
Shi-chuo
SC
Hong
Zhen
Z
D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002681:China; D003625:Data Collection; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D014504:Urban Health
D000927:Anticonvulsants