[Epidemiologic study of 500 adult epileptics from a hospital population].

Abstract

An epidemiology analysis is carried out in a hospital population of 500 epileptic patients older than 14 years of age, pertaining to the outpatient department of the Instituto de Neurología, Hospital de Clínicas, Monevideo". This information gathered, corresponds to the period, 1966-1975. Specially formulated records of precoded-type data were used for this research and the data was processed by automation. This work deals fundamentally with a descriptive study in which the character of the population and of its epilepsy is studied by means of 20 items. Analyzed from within the social aspects, the school attendance and the occupation of the patients, amounts, similar to those of the general population of the country, were found. An elevated incidence of family epilepsy antecedents (17%) in the group and also of perinatal pathology (19%), is emphasized. An analytic study of the clinical type of crisis and of the factors unleashed by the attacks is made. Dividing the population into two groups, according to the beginning of epilepsy, before or after the 25 years, the different etiology for both groups is specially pointed out, the juvenile epilepsy predominating in the unknown etiology, genetics and that which is produced by perinatal pathology, while in the tary epilepsy, the vascular and tumoral etiology, above all, is most frequent.