title: A comprehensive review of epilepsy in the Arab world.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We conducted a comprehensive review of the epidemiology of epilepsy in the Arab world.
  
  
  METHODS
  Epidemiological literature about epilepsy from 22 countries of the Arab League was searched in French and English using several keywords (specific and wider) and combinations, individually for each country. The search was conducted on Google first and then on PubMed. The results are presented as counts, proportions, and medians along with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Unpaired t-test with unequal variance and regressions were performed, altogether and individually, for lifetime and active epilepsy prevalence as well as incidence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Google provided 21 prevalence, four camp and nine incidence estimates while PubMed provided ten such estimates; none of them was identified by Google. No epidemiological data about epilepsy was found from 10/22 countries. Excluding pediatric studies, 13 prevalence estimates from six countries were identified. Including pediatric studies, 21 estimates from nine countries were found. Median lifetime and active epilepsy prevalence were 7.5/1000 (95% CI 2.6-12.3, range 1.9-12.9) and 4.4/1000 (95% CI 2.1-9.3, range 2.1-9.3), respectively, excluding pediatric studies (1984-2014, N=244081). Median incidence was 56.0/100,000 (n=9, N=122484, 95% CI 13.7-147.9, range 10.4-190).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The fact that no epidemiological data about epilepsy is available in the public domain for almost one half of all Arab countries offers opportunities for future research. This thorough review of existing literature demonstrates a prevalence of epilepsy three times higher than previously reported for this region. The median incidence is similar to other regions of the world, e.g. North America. Google yielded additional valuable sources not indexed in PubMed and provided pertinent references more quickly.
authors.affiliation: Nepal Interest Group of Epilepsy and Neurology, Kathmandu, Nepal; Faculté de Medecine, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France; Iranian Epilepsy Association, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: devenderbhalla@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Devender
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhalla
authors.affiliation: Iranian Epilepsy Association, Tehran, Iran; University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lotfalinezhad
authors.affiliation: Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Utsav
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Timalsina
authors.affiliation: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Saloni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.affiliation: Chettinad Health and Research Institute, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Kailash Suresh
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
authors.forename: Abdallah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdelrahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, El Cruce Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giagante
authors.affiliation: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Manjari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical University, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Kavita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.affiliation: Marzoeki Mahdi Hospital, Bogor, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Irmansyah
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Irmansyah
mesh_terms: D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008877:Middle East / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Arab; Epidemiology; Epilepsy; Incidence; Prevalence