title: Prevalence of epilepsy in school-going children (6-18 years) in Kashmir Valley of North-west India.
abstract: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder which predominantly affects paediatric and young adolescent population. The aim of present study was to evaluate the prevalence of epilepsy in school-going children (6-18 years) in Kashmir valley. Forty-nine cases of epilepsy were detected after screening 15218 school-going children. It included 55.1% (prevalence of 3.74/1000) males and 44.9% (prevalence of 3.13/1000) females. Rural-urban specification revealed a prevalence of 3.49/1000 and 2.96/1000 respectively. Age-specific prevalence was found to be 3.82/1000 (6-10 years), 3.44/1000 (11-14 years) and 2.33/1000 (15-18 years). Highest prevalence of epilepsy was found in upper lower class (prevalence of 3.89/1000) and lowest in lower middle class (prevalence of 2.78/1000). Again, higher prevalence (3.38/1000) was observed in children from government run educational institutions. Generalised tonic-clonic seizures (73.5%) was the commonest type of seizure observed.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Division, Department of Medicine, Government Medical College and Associated SMHS Hospital, Srinagar 190010.
authors.forename: Parvaiz A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Shabina F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Shapoo
authors.forename: Rakesh K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Koul
authors.forename: M Afzal
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014505:Urban Population