• Dev Med Child Neurol · Dec 2011

    Behavioural comorbidity in Tanzanian children with epilepsy: a community-based case-control study.

    • Kathryn Burton, Jane Rogathe, Ewan Hunter, Matthew Burton, Mark Swai, Jim Todd, Brian Neville, Richard Walker, and Charles Newton.
    • Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi, Tanzania. kjburton@doctors.org.uk
    • Dev Med Child Neurol. 2011 Dec 1;53(12):1135-42.

    AimThe aim of this study was to define the prevalence of and risk factors for behavioural disorders in children with epilepsy from a rural district of Tanzania by conducting a community-based case-control study.MethodOne hundred and twelve children aged 6 to 14 years (55 males, 57 females; median age 12 y) with active epilepsy (at least two unprovoked seizures in the last 5 y) were identified in a cross-sectional survey and included in this study. Children who were younger than 6 years were excluded in order to eliminate febrile seizures. Behaviour was assessed using the Rutter scale; children who scored 13 or more were considered to have disordered behaviour. A comparison group was made up of age- and sex-matched children without epilepsy (n = 113; 57 males, 56 females; median age 12 y).ResultsBehavioural disorders were diagnosed in 68 of 103 (66%) children with epilepsy and in 19 of 99 (19%) controls. Disordered behaviour was significantly more common in children with epilepsy than in the comparison group (univariate odds ratio 8.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.3-15.6; p < 0.001) and frequent seizures and poor scholastic attainment were associated in children with epilepsy. Behavioural disorders were not associated with antiepileptic drug usage. Attention problems were present in 48 of 91 (53%) children with epilepsy and 16 of 97 (17%) controls (univariate odds ratio 5.7; 95% CI 2.9-11.1; p < 0.001). In children with epilepsy, attention problems were significantly more common in males and were associated with frequent seizures.InterpretationChildren with epilepsy in a rural area of sub-Saharan Africa have a high prevalence of behavioural disorders and attention problems, both of which are associated with frequent seizures. Providing behaviour assessment and appropriate intervention programmes for children with epilepsy may reduce the burden of behaviour disorders in this setting.© The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology © 2011 Mac Keith Press.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…