Richard Hackett

The prevalence of epilepsy in the Zay Society, Ethiopia-—An area of high prevalence

Very high prevalence rates of epilepsy have been found in some developing countries. The Zay Society of Ethiopia was screened for epilepsy during a door-to-door survey and after neurological assessment, a prevalence of 29.5/1000 was found. Almost all the cases had primary generalised epilepsy in contrast to the predominance of partial epilepsy found elsewhere. Due to its historical isolation, epilepsy genes may have become widely disseminated throughout the Zay Society, accounting for the elevated prevalence.

Psychiatric disorder and cognitive function in children with epilepsy in Kerala, South India

The cognitive and psychiatric associations of childhood epilepsy have not been studied in developing countries. Children with epilepsy were identified during a population-based epidemiological study of 1403 8- to 12-year-old children in Kerala, South India. They were compared with age-, sex- and social class-matched controls on measures of reading, vocabulary, non-verbal reasoning and school performance. In addition, psychiatric symptoms were measured using standard questionnaires and the presence or absence of psychiatric disorder was established by interview. Patients performed as well as controls on the non-verbal test, but performed worse on tests of vocabulary and reading, suggesting a specific disadvantage in the area of education. Psychiatric disorder was more prevalent in the children with epilepsy. It was concluded that epilepsy in the population studied is accompanied by a significant burden of cognitive and psychiatric disorders which need recognition and adequate service provision.