Clinical and epidemiological profile of neurocysticercosis in children

Abstract

Background: This study was done to describe the clinical and epidemiological profile of neurocysticercosis in children of Rohilkhand region.Methods: The study was carried out in the Paediatric Department (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and General Ward) of Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. It was a prospective clinical observational study. After IEC approval and written informed consent, all children between the age group of one month to sixteen years, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, that is, presented with unprovoked seizure and had evidence of active and ring enhancing lesion or mixed lesion on CT Scan/MRI of brain were enrolled in the study. Detailed history and clinical examination were carried out. Seizures due to any other CNS pathology were excluded. Simple tests for measures of dispersion were the statistical tests that were used.Results: Statistically forty children fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of the total children enrolled in the study, 63% were males. Male to female ratio was 1.7. Almost three fourths of the population belonged to rural backgrounds. The mean age of studied children was 10.5 years. More than half of the affected children belonged to the school going age group. Generalised tonic clonic seizures were more common in all age groups than partial seizures. Headache (52.6%), loss of consciousness (42.1%), vomiting (31.5%) and focal neurological deficit (15.7%) were the most common presenting complaints in order of decreasing frequency.Conclusions: There should be a high index of suspicion of NCC in any child presenting with unprovoked seizures.