A study of newly diagnosed epilepsy in Malaysia

To determine the characteristics of newly diagnosed epilepsy in the multiracial population of Malaysia.

This is a prospective study of 165 consecutive newly diagnosed cases of epilepsy presenting to the neurology laboratory of the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. The inclusion criteria were: two or more seizures with interval of > 24 hours, age > 1 month, residents of Klang Valley. All the patients underwent an awake and sleep EEG.

One hundred and sixty-five cases were collected over 1992-1994. Their ethnic origin was: Chinese (36%), Indian (35%), Malay (29%). The mean age of onset of epilepsy was 18.7 years. Localisation related epilepsies accounted for 57.6% of cases while the remaining 42.4% were generalised epilepsies. Of the generalised epilepsies, subclassification was as follows: idiopathic generalised epilepsy 28.5%, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy 5.5%, childhood absence epilepsy 3.6%, West syndrome 3%, Lennox Gastaut syndrome 1.2% and photosensitive epilepsy 0.6%. Twenty-two percent of the cases were symptomatic and 78% were cryptogenic/idiopathic. The patients had a mean of 3.9 other siblings. Only 0.76% of the close relatives (parents and siblings) had a history of epilepsy.

The characteristics of epilepsy in Malaysia is largely similar to those reported elsewhere. Genetic factors may be playing a relatively minor role in causing epilepsy in this community.