University Clinic of Neurology, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Mother Theresa str. 17, Skopje, North Macedonia.
Institute of Epidemiology, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Mother Theresa str. 17, Skopje, North Macedonia.
Seizure. 2021 Apr;87:56-60. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2021.03.003. Epub 2021 Mar 4.
This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and period prevalence of epilepsy in the Republic of North Macedonia, an upper-middle-income country with universal access to healthcare, based on a nationwide healthcare platform (NHP).
NHP contains reports from all inpatient and outpatient medical encounters and procedures, and all electronic medical records are linked together with a unique patient number. We performed the analysis of the data maintained at the Macedonian Ministry of Health, concerning the five years of the study (2014 through 2018). Population and demographic data for each year were obtained from the State Statistical Office.
The period prevalence was 6.67 per 1,000 inhabitants. There were 6383 (46.2%) females and 7435 (53.8%) males; the gender difference was significant: 6.17 per 1,000 females and 7.16 per 1,000 males (p = 0.0000). Between 2015 and 2018 the median annual incidence of epilepsy was 68 new epilepsy patients per 100,000, with an upward trend over time. The age-specific incidence was high in childhood and adolescence, was constant (and low) in the adult years, and gradually increased in each successive age group after the age of 50 years. The greatest incidence was found in group 70-79 years of age. The incidence in childhood and adolescence tends to gradually decrease from 2015 to 2018, while it progressively increased in population over 50 years of age, which may explain a rise in overall incidence. We found a statistically significant higher incidence in males than in females, a ratio consistently being 1.2: 1.
The data from the study provides accurate findings on the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy in the upper-middle-income Southeastern European country.
本研究旨在评估北马其顿共和国（一个拥有全民医疗保健的中上收入国家）的癫痫发病率和期间患病率，该研究基于全国医疗保健平台（NHP）。
NHP 包含了所有住院和门诊医疗就诊和程序的报告，并且所有电子病历都通过一个独特的患者编号链接在一起。我们对马其顿卫生部保存的研究五年（2014 年至 2018 年）的数据进行了分析。每年的人口和人口统计数据均从国家统计局获得。
期间患病率为每 1000 名居民 6.67 例。女性有 6383 例（46.2%），男性有 7435 例（53.8%）；性别差异显著：女性每 1000 人中有 6.17 例，男性每 1000 人中有 7.16 例（p=0.0000）。2015 年至 2018 年间，癫痫的年平均发病率为每 10 万人中有 68 例新癫痫患者，呈上升趋势。特定年龄的发病率在儿童和青少年时期较高，在成年期保持稳定（较低），并在 50 岁以上的每个连续年龄组中逐渐增加。发病率最高的是 70-79 岁年龄组。儿童和青少年的发病率从 2015 年到 2018 年逐渐下降，而 50 岁以上人群的发病率则逐渐增加，这可能解释了总发病率的上升。我们发现男性的发病率明显高于女性，男女比例始终为 1.2:1。
该研究的数据提供了关于中上收入东南欧国家癫痫患病率和发病率的准确发现。
