A comparative study of EEG findings among subjects in seizure-remission and patients with epilepsy in a resource constrained west African psychiatric hospital.

Background: Epilepsy is one of the commonest chronic neurological disorders, most especially in developing countries of the World. Again, electroencephalography (EEG) is an important investigation in epileptology and more so in monitoring seizure remission. Thus, in a resource constrained country like Nigeria, our study aimed to determine the epileptiform activities using routine EEG recordings on subjects in seizure remission compared to those subjects with active seizures. Methods: In our study, and following ethical approval, standard EEG recording was carried out on convenient samples of equal number (131) of subjects with active seizure and those in seizure remission using the “Neurofax” Electroencephalography, EEG-1200 (R) machine. The EEG machine was used to carry out an awake 22-channel EEG scalp recording on each subject. Results: Among subjects with active seizures, the mean duration of seizure was 2.80±2.44 years, with range of 0.5 to 12.0 years. For subjects in seizure remission (SSR), the mean duration of remission was 2.41±1.03 years, with range of 1 to 5 years. Out of the 131 subjects with seizure, 37 (28.3%) had normal EEG recording; and 94 (71.7%) had abnormal EEG recordings with various forms of epileptiform activities. On the other hand, of the 131 subjects in seizure remission (SSR), nearly half, 62 (47.3%) had normal EEG recording and 69(52.7%) had abnormal (epileptiform activities) recording. The difference in these EEG findings between the two study groups was significant with F=19.29, p=0.00*; t=-2.22, p=0.028*; and 95% Confidence Interval, CI=-0.70 to -0.40. Conclusion: In addition to clinical evaluation, routine EEG recording can be used to monitor seizure remission in resource constrained countries such as Nigeria.