Abstracts

Rationale: There are no studies on epidemiology of epilepsy from Russia and many other countries of the Eastern part of Europe in the English medical literature. Methods: The series of studies in 14 regions (total population 517,624 persons - about 0.34% of the total Russian Federation (RF) population - were performed with the same protocol. Areas where the study has been performed were located in European (Western population) and Siberian (Eastern population) parts of Russia. These local studies investigated the prevalence of epilepsy, clinical profiles, seizure types, clinical syndromes, etiology, seizure frequency, therapy, educational level and social status of the adolescent and adult (14 years and older) patients with active epilepsy. Results: The total of 1753 patients with established epilepsy was identified (1033 men, 720 women). The age adjusted prevalence rate for epilepsy in Russian Federation, with standardization to the European Standard Million was 3.40 (95%CI: 3.26-3.55) per 1000 and was higher among men - 4.50 (95%CI: 4.25-4.76) then among women - 2.52 (95%CI: 2.35-2.69) (p<0.0001). Prevalence in the Eastern population was significantly higher then in the Western population. The highest prevalence values were found for the age group 50-59 years. Localization-related (focal) epilepsies/epilepsy syndromes were diagnosed in the majority of patients (81.6%). The proportion of localization-related epilepsies and epilepsy syndromes was significantly lower in the Eastern population (79.4%) then in the Western population (84.3%) (p=0.0086). In about one third of patients with localization-related epilepsies etiology of epilepsy remained undetermined. Head injury was the main identified cause of epilepsy, followed by cerebrovascular disorders. 80% of patients were on AED treatment, with almost equal proportion on monotherapy and polytherapy. The most frequently prescribed drugs were carbamazepine and phenobarbital, followed by valproate. Less than 5% of patients were on new AEDs. The educational level of people with epilepsy (PWE) was good, with 75.5% those who graduated from the secondary school (10-11 years of school education). Still, the educational level of PWE was lower than that in general in RF, with higher rate of persons with minimal education and lower - with university/college education. In spite of the generally high educational levels in PWE, their occupational profile was poor when compared with the general population. There was a high proportion of disabled people (57.1%) among PWE compared to the general population (8.4%) (p<0.0001).