[Epidemiology of epilepsy in school children at Pruszkow and Ursus]

The purpose of the study was calculation of the prevalence rate of epilepsy in school-children (7-15 years) in Prusków and Ursus on the basis of cases recorded in specialistic medical sources and determination and description of elementary clinical and social features in the studied group of children. The calculated prevalence rate of epilepsy in the studied population is 6.73/1000. It is higher in boys (7.45) than girls (5.96) and higher in older children - above 10 years (7.52) than in younger children (5.81). Approximate evaluation of the number of epileptic children at school-age on the basis of this rate shows that in the year 1970 there were about 34000 epileptic children registered in medical institutions in Poland. The analysis of all clinical and social data and certain differences in comparison with data in the literature may show that in childhood epilepsy recorded groups of children are formed by the process of selection. Of a significant role in the formation of these groups may be clinical as well as non-clinical factors. It may be expected, thus, that the actual prevalence rate of epilepsy in children population is higher than that calculated from registered cases.