Urban prevalence of epilepsy - Populational study in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, a medium-sized city in Brazil

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of epilepsy in the urban population of Sao Jose do Rio Preto. This is a medium-sized city of 336000 inhabitants, located in the northwest of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Method: A cross-sectional epidemiological investigation with a randomized sample was performed in two phases, a screening phase and a confirmation of the diagnosis phase. The gold standard was a clinical investigation and neurological examination. The chi-square test was used in analysis of the results and p-value value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant. Prevalence was calculated with 95% confidence interval. Results: The study sample size was 17293 individuals, with distributions of gender, age, and race similar to the general population. The prevalence per 1000 inhabitants of epilepsy was 18.6, of these 8.2 were active, defined as at least one seizure within the last two years. The prevalence per 1000 inhabitants for the age groups (years) was 4.9 (0-4), 11.7 (5-14), 20.3 (15-64) and 32.8 (65 or over). Conclusion: Prevalence of both accumulated and active epilepsy was elevated, comparable to other developing nations, in particular those of Latin America. However, the prevalence of epilepsy in childhood was low, whilst in aged individuals it was high similar to industrialized nations.