A multicentre epilepsy registry in Mexico

Abstract

The National Epilepsy Registry in Mexico was carried out, from March 2021 to December 2022, in public hospitals of the Priority Epilepsy Program 'PPE', with the aim of describing the current situation in our pediatric and adult population. Observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study. We used a database, according to classifications of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) 2017. Patients of all ages were included, with a diagnosis of epilepsy according to the practical clinical definition ILAE 2014. We registered 10,852 patients, 5,495 men (50.6%) and 5,357 women (49.4%). Family history of epilepsy in 1,714 patients (15.8%), febrile seizures in 987 (9.1%). Type of seizure: 5,542 (51.1%) presented focal onset, of which 1,889 (34.1%) evolved to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures; generalized onset 4,861 (44.8%), unknown 33 (3.1%) and unclassified 115 (1.1%). Almost half had unknown etiology and 40% were structural, of which hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy was the most frequent (21.6%) and neurocysticercosis was 1%. Comorbidities appeared in 6,326 patients (58.3%). Anti-seizure medications (ASM) were used in 96.4% patients, mainly valproate. Status epilepticus was found in 1,383 patients (12.7%) and drug-resistant epilepsy in 18.9%. Paraclinical studies: 79.3% with at least one electroencephalogram and 76.9% with a neuroimaging study. Epilepsy surgery occurred in 275 patients (2.5%). Despite the efforts of the Pan American Health Organization in its Strategy and Action Plan on epilepsy, diagnostic technologies and ASM supply are still lagging behind.