Prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in Dunukofia County in South East Nigeria: a door-to-door survey.
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Authors
Anaje, Obiora Daniel
Nwani, Paul Osemeke
Nwosu, Maduaburochukwu C
Asomugha, Lasbrey Azuoma
Anaje, Chetanna Chioma
Amaechi, Ifeoma Adaigwe
Akobundu, Uzoamaka Nwakaego
Ebeogu, Olisaeloka Ginikachi
Eze, Linda Ifunanya
Morah, Nnamdi Joseph
Issue Date
2025-03-24
Type
Journal Article
Language
en
Keywords
Active convulsive epilepsy , Comparison , Intraregional variation , Prevalence , Six towns
Alternative Title
Abstract
Background: Regional variations in the prevalence of epilepsy in Nigeria have been validated. We determined the prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in six towns of Dunukofia County and compared the findings with existing regional prevalence data.
Methods: Patients with active convulsive epilepsy were identified in a two-phase cross-sectional descriptive community-based door-to-door study using a validated questionnaire in the first phase and a modified epilepsy questionnaire developed for tropical countries in the second phase after clinical assessment and electroencephalogram.
Results: A total of 9000 persons were surveyed in the first stage, of which 56 had active convulsive epilepsy. The highest point prevalence was found in Nawgu, 7.3 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7-15.8) while the lowest point prevalence of 5.0 per 1000 (95% CI: 2.0-10.3) was obtained in Ukpo. The observed rates after age adjustment to the Nigeria standard population of 4.9-5.7 per 1000 in this study, which was comparable to 4.6-5.7 per 1000 reported in previous studies, besides two isolated reports of rates as low as 2.7 per 1000 and as high as 20.0 per 1000 reported in the past from two sites in the northern section of the region.
Conclusions: The burden of epilepsy is high in this region, and intra-regional differences in prevalence rates exist. The implications of this finding do not only border on the care of people living with epilepsy but also highlight the need to identify local risk factors as well as appropriate and locally acceptable approaches to reduce the epilepsy burden.
Description
© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
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Citation
Snaje, OD. et al. (2025) 'Prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in Dunukofia County in South East Nigeria: a door-to-door survey', Acta Epileptologica 7(1) 21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42494-024-00200-4
Publisher
BMC - Springer Nature
License
© 2025. The Author(s).
Journal
Acta epileptologica
Volume
7
Issue
1
PubMed ID
ISSN
2524-4434