The Prevalance of Epilepsy Among College Students In Canakkale, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of epilepsy among students of the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. This cross sectional epidemiological study was performed on 4762 of 19,988 Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University students in the academic year 2007-2008. Participants that answered “epilepsy” to the question “Do you have any disease diagnosed by a doctor?” in a questionnaire including 4 subgroups were identified. Data were transferred to the Epi-Info Version 6.0 statistics program and controlled data were analyzed in the SPSS 15.0 statistics program. There were 53.1% of female and 46.9% of male students, mean age 20.4±2.1 (range 17-43) years. Twelve (0.25%) students had epilepsy diagnosis, eight (66.7%) female and four (33.3%) male, mean age 20.8±1.8 years. In our study, epilepsy was detected in 0.25% of students (n=12). Age specific prevalence studies related to epilepsy epidemiology are extremely rare, especially in university students with average intelligence. Thus, we considered that it would be epidemiologically significant to share the results of our cross sectional study with all those involved in epilepsy epidemiology and management.

Keywords

• Epilepsy – epidemiology
• Prevalence
• Students
• Turkey – epidemiology