Department of Pediatrics and Child Health Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, P.O.BOX: 1145, Ethiopia.
Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Mar 12;24(1):771. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18236-z.
Epilepsy contributes to a significant disease burden in children and adolescents worldwide. The incidence of childhood epilepsy is threefold higher in low and middle income countries compared in high-income countries. Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition associated with stigma and discrimination, an impaired quality of life, and other mental health related problems.
This study is aimed to synthesize existing evidence and estimate the pooled prevalence and incidence of epilepsy in children and adolescents in Africa.
A comprehensive and systematic search of relevant databases was conducted. The quality of each study was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale adapted for meta-analysis. Two reviewers screened retrieved articles, conducted critical appraisals, and extracted the data. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed by visual inspection of forest plots and statistically using Cochran's Q statistics and the I test. Publication bias was checked by visual inspection of funnel plots as well as statistically using Egger's correlation and Begg's regression tests. Finally, the pooled prevalence and incidence of childhood epilepsy were computed with 95% confidence intervals.
In this review and meta-analysis 42 studies with 56 findings were included to compute the pooled prevalence of childhood epilepsy. On the other hand, 6 studies were included to estimate the combined incidence. The pooled prevalence of cumulative epilepsy was 17.3 per 1000 children. Whereas the pooled prevalence of active and lifetime epilepsy was 6.8 and 18.6 per 1000 children respectively. The pooled incidence of childhood epilepsy was 2.5 per 1000 children.
Nearly 1 in 50 children are suffering from epilepsy in Africa. However, little attention has been paid to the prevention and treatment of childhood epilepsy. Mass epilepsy screening, scaling up treatment coverage, and designing strict treatment follow up and monitoring mechanisms are recommended.
癫痫在全球儿童和青少年中造成了巨大的疾病负担。与高收入国家相比，中低收入国家儿童癫痫的发病率高出三倍。癫痫是一种严重的神经系统疾病，与耻辱感和歧视、生活质量受损以及其他心理健康相关问题有关。
本研究旨在综合现有证据并估计非洲儿童和青少年癫痫的患病率和发病率。
对相关数据库进行了全面系统的搜索。使用针对荟萃分析进行了调整的纽卡斯尔-渥太华质量评估量表来评估每项研究的质量。两名审查员筛选了检索到的文章，进行了批判性评估，并提取了数据。通过森林图的视觉检查和 Cochran's Q 统计量和 I 检验的统计学方法评估研究之间的异质性。通过漏斗图的视觉检查以及 Egger 的相关性和 Begg 的回归检验的统计学方法检查发表偏倚。最后，使用 95%置信区间计算儿童癫痫的患病率和发病率。
在本综述和荟萃分析中，纳入了 42 项研究的 56 项发现，以计算儿童癫痫的患病率。另一方面，纳入了 6 项研究来估计合并发病率。累积癫痫的患病率为每 1000 名儿童 17.3 例。而活跃性癫痫和终身癫痫的患病率分别为每 1000 名儿童 6.8 例和 18.6 例。儿童癫痫的发病率为每 1000 名儿童 2.5 例。
在非洲，近五分之一的儿童患有癫痫。然而，对儿童癫痫的预防和治疗关注甚少。建议进行大规模癫痫筛查，扩大治疗覆盖范围，并设计严格的治疗随访和监测机制。
