Abstracts

Rationale: Data on clinical characteristics of epileptic patients, etiology of their epilepsy, management and seizure control in Oman is scant. The aim of this study was to elucidate the clinical characteristics of epileptic patients, management and seizure control in a tertiary hospital in Oman. Methods: This was a 3 months (March-May 2008) prospective cross-sectional study where all subjects (≥13 years) attending an epilepsy out-patient clinic in our institute were enrolled. Data on demographic, clinical characteristics, anti-epileptic drug (AED) use and seizure control were captured. Analyses were performed using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 134 subjects were enrolled for the study. The overall mean age of the cohort was 26±11 years, ranging from 13 to 75 years of age, and 54% (n=72) were males. The disease duration ranged from 2 months to 32 years (median, 8 years). The most common type of epilepsy was focal epilepsy (n=109; 81%) followed by primary generalized epilepsy (n=22; 16%; most of which were of juvenile myoclonus type) and few cases were of progressive myoclonus epilepsy (n=3; 2%). Focal epilepsies (n=109) constituted of temporal lobe epilepsy (n=91; 83%), frontal lobe epilepsy (n=12; 11%), and others (n=6; 6%). Out of those with focal epilepsies, majority were of unknown etiology (n=92; 84%). Other aetiologies included trauma (n=7; 6%), genetic origin (n=3; 2%), and others (n=7; 7%). Fifty five percent (n=74) and 27% (n=36) of the patients were on mono- and dual- therapies, respectively. The most commonly used monotherapy was carbamazepine (n=24; 18%), followed by sodium valproate (n=19; 14%), and leviteracetam (n=15; 11%), while the most commonly used dual therapies were carbamazepine and sodium valproate (n=7; 5%), carbamazepine and leviteracetam (n=6; 4%), and carbamazepine and topiramate (n=5; 4%). Forty nine percent (n=65) of the patients had no attacks in the previous three months. The seizure frequency was about an average of 4±17 and a median of one over the previous three months. 44% of the seizures reported by the patients over the three months were partial seizures. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that focal epilepsy was the most common type of epilepsy encountered in our institute and commonly of temporal lobe in origin. The etiology of most of our patients with focal epilepsy is unknown. Monotherapy with carbamazepine, sodim valproate, and leviteracetam were the most-commonly used AEDs. Nearly fifty percent of our patients reported that their epilepsy was reasonably well controlled.