title: Profile of epilepsy in a regional hospital in Al qassim, saudi arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epilepsy is a diverse set of chronic neurological disorders characterized by seizures. It is one of the most common of the serious neurological disorders. About 3% of people will be diagnosed with epilepsy at some time in their lives.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to address the commonest types of seizures, their aetiologies, EEG and neuroimaging results and prognosis of patients presented to neurology services of the King Fahad Specialist Hospital- AlQassim (KFSH).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective epidemiological study we investigated the medical records of patients with epilepsy, who attended the neurology services of KFSH, during the study period (26/10/2011-26/4/2012).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 341 patients; 189 (55.4%) males and 152 (44.6%) females. Their ages ranged between 12 and 85 years (mean ± SD = 31±16.9). The majority of patients had Generalised Tonic Clonic Seizures (76.2%), followed by Complex Partial Seizures (7.6%). 73% of our patients had idiopathic epilepsy. The commonest causes for symptomatic epilepsy were Cerebro Vascular Accidents and Head trauma. Hemiplegia, mental retardation and psychiatric illness were the commonest comorbidity. 69.3% of patients had controlled seizures. Patients with idiopathic epilepsy were significantly controlled than patients with symptomatic epilepsy (P=0.01), and those using one Anti Epileptic Drug were significantly controlled compared to patients using polytherapy (P=0.0001) there was no significant relation between controlled seizure and duration of illness or hospitalization or EEG changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Seizure types, aetiology, drug therapy, Comorbidities and outcome in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia are similar to previous local and international studies. 35.3% of patients were hospitalized, higher rates than previous studies. Seizure control was better in generalized seizures and idiopathic epilepsy compared to complex partial seizures or partial seizures with secondary generalization and symptomatic epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Minia University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Nermin A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Hamdy
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Al Qassim University, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Jawad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Alamgir
authors.affiliation: King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: El Gamri E
authors.initials: el GE
authors.lastname: Mohammad
authors.affiliation: Minia University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mahmoud H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Khedr
authors.affiliation: King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Shafat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fazili
keywords: Saudi Arabia; epidemiology; epilepsy; seizures