Sex differences among epileptic patients: a comparison of epilepsy and its impacts on demographic features, clinical characteristics, and management patterns in a tertiary care hospital in Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Background Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions. We aimed to identify sex differences in the demographic, clinical features, and treatment strategies in epileptic patients. Objectives To analyze and compare the differences in the impact of epilepsy on the socio-demographic characteristics of male and female patients along with gender differences in various types of epilepsies and treatment strategies. Material and methods A record-based study for 1000 individuals attending the epilepsy outpatient clinic. The medical records were reviewed through a predesigned questionnaire to obtain all relevant data. Statistical analysis Data was summarized using range, mean, standard deviation, and median interquartile range for quantitative variable or frequency and percentage for the qualitative ones. Comparison between groups was done using chi-square test. Results Females were more illiterate and unemployed compared to males. Tonic-clonic seizures were more frequent in males. Specific epileptic syndromes as juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) were more frequent in females (p = 0.01). More males had an underlying secondary etiology (p = 0.001). The most common drug used was valproate (51.2%) which was more utilized by males. Conclusions Significant differences between both sexes were observed in certain social impacts in addition to seizure syndromes, etiology, and drug utilization.

Keywords

• Epilepsy
• Sex differences
• Epilepsy impact
• Tertiary hospital