Abstract
BackgroundEpilepsy is a leading serious neurological condition worldwide and has particularly significant physical, economic and social consequences in Sub–Saharan Africa. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of epilepsy prevalence in this region and how this varies by age and sex so as to inform understanding of the disease characteristics as well as the development of infrastructure, services and policies.MethodsA parallel systematic analysis of Medline, Embase and Global Health returned 32 studies that satisfied pre–defined quality criteria. Relevant data was extracted, tabulated and analyzed. We modelled the available information and used the UN population figures for Africa to determine the age–specific and overall burden of epilepsy.ResultsActive epilepsy was estimated to affect 4.4 million people in Sub–Saharan Africa, whilst lifetime epilepsy was estimated to affect 5.4 million. The prevalence of active epilepsy peaks in the 20–29 age group at 11.5/1000 and again in the 40–49 age group at 8.2/1000. The lowest prevalence value of 3.1/1000 is seen in the 60+ age group. This binomial pattern is also seen in both men and women, with the second peak more pronounced in women at 14.6/1000.ConclusionThe high prevalence of epilepsy, especially in young adults, has important consequences for both the workforce and community structures. An estimation of disease burden would be a beneficial outcome of further research, as would research into appropriate methods of improving health care for and tackling discrimination against people with epilepsy.
Highlights
Epilepsy is a leading serious neurological condition worldwide and has significant physical, economic and social consequences in Sub–Saharan Africa
At the United Nations high–level meeting on the prevention and control of non–communicable diseases (NCDs) in 2011, there was a general consensus that NCDs are already the universal leading causes of death, and that their burden is rapidly increasing [1]
Low– and middle–income countries (LMICs) that lack the resources and infrastructure to cope with the diseases are expected to bear a disproportionate amount of the disease burden [3,4]
Summary
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of epilepsy prevalence in this region and how this varies by age and sex so as to inform understanding of the disease characteristics as well as the development of infrastructure, services and policies. By way of systematic review, the aims of this study were : (i) to provide an updated estimate for the overall prevalence of epilepsy in SSA; (ii) to give sex and age–specific breakdown for the epilepsy prevalence for SSA; and (iii) to assess the limitations of the available data
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