Pattern of Admission and Epidemiology of Seizure Patients in Mansoura Neurology Department: A 5-year- Retrospective Study

Background: Seizures are among the most common serious neurologic disorders. Patients with epilepsy could be hospitalized for; optimum diagnosis, or treatment of prolonged seizure, status epilepticus, either through the outpatient clinic (OPC) or emergency hospital (EH). Objectives: to evaluate the pattern of hospitalization and epidemiology of patients with seizure. Methods: We reviewed the diagnosis of seizure of all patients admitted to our department from January 2003 till December 2007. We collected the source and date of admission, etiologic diagnosis and date of discharge. All data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: a total of 1960 patients with seizure included in the study period. Seizure constituted 8% of all neurology admissions, mostly admitted from the OPC. Slightly more than two thirds of our patients were below the age of 40. The mean hospital stay was 3.5 days, and was longer in admission from OPC, females, those below the age of 20, and patients with symptomatic seizures. Epilepsy represented most of our admissions and was mainly from OPC while seizure patients were admitted mainly from EH. Seizures associated with stroke were the second common etiology. Males predominated seizure patients. There was a higher rural descent especially in seizure patients. Patients admitted for seizure control were double those for optimum diagnosis. Conclusion: the pattern and trends of seizure hospitalization in our department is nearly similar to those of developed countries. Short-bed days could be suitable for those admitted for optimum diagnosis and potentially avoidable for those who are admitted for seizure control. (Egypt J. Neurol. Psychiat. Neurosurg., 2009, 46(2): 337-344)