[Epilepsies in an outpatient setting: a study of 150 cases].

INTRODUCTION

In this paper we present epidemiological data from a register of cases of epilepsy attended in the Centro de Especialidades of the Alboraya street in Valencia. The sample corresponds to a particular type of healthcare setting, halfway between the family doctor and the specialist hospital department, which has recently begun to be developed in Spain in the field of neurology.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The sample consisted of 150 patients who completed a questionnaire-type protocol.

RESULTS

The average age of the patients was 39.66 +/- 19.60 years, slightly more in the men than in the women. There were slightly more women than men included in the study. The epilepsy was either long-term or of recent onset. The average age of onset was 25.42 +/- 21.35 years. More than two thirds of the sample, that is 108 patients (72%) had partly controlled disease. However, a considerable number of them were irregularly controlled and another group of 23 (15.3%) were on polytherapy with three or more antiepileptic drugs.

CONCLUSIONS

The data from this series of 150 cases is, in general, similar to that of other epidemiological studies done in Spain. However, it is noticeable that there is a high proportion of patients with problems of control, although this may be due simply to a bias in the selection. We hope that the publication of this new data will stimulate new studies to analyse the attention give to patients with epilepsy in this healthcare setting.