[Epilepsy and self evaluation of health conditions in subjects with a history of severe head injury in childhood].

Follow-up study of 309 subjects were carried out. They gave a history of severe head trauma in childhood (with cerebral concussion or cranial fracture). The mean age of these subjects at the time of trauma was 6.3 years and at the time of examination -- 19.3 years, the mean duration of follow-up being about 13 years. The frequency of epilepsy in this group was 3.2/1000 before head trauma. In follow-up prevalence of epilepsy in this groups was 25.9/1000, and of suspected epilepsy prevalence was 13/1000. The prevalence of epilepsy in subjects after severe head trauma was three times the expected one (9/1000). The most frequent complaint in this group were headaches. They were twice as, frequent as in the general population at the same age. The proportion of subjects regarding their health state as poor was nearly twice as high as expected, and that of subjects regarding it as good was by one-third lower than expected. Despite these differences in self-evaluation of the health state and frequency of complaints it was found that a higher proportion of subjects in this group had not visited doctors in the year preceding the investigation than in the general population. This may indicate that many subjects in this group have lost motivation for treatment.