[Prevalence of epilepsy in adults at Tourou, in northern Benin]

We sought to determine the prevalence of epilepsy and the factors associated with it in Tourou in northern Benin.

We conducted a door-to-door survey in the village of Tourou, in Parakou in northern Benin from March 1-31, 2011. It included 1031 subjects older than 15 years selected by two-stage cluster sampling. The diagnosis of epilepsy was based on the definition of the International League against Epilepsy, and the subjects were interviewed with its diagnostic questionnaire. The data were analyzed with SPSS 16.0 software. The associations between epilepsy and various factors were estimated by calculating their odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals.

The study included 1031 adults with a mean age of 44.03 ± 18.26 years; 682 were men. Seven subjects had epilepsy. Its prevalence was thus 7‰, 95% CI [0.2 to 20]. In the univariate analysis the factors associated with epilepsy were age (p<10(-4)), not working (p = 0.002), and length of residence in Tourou (p = 0.013). In the multivariate analysis, only age less than 25 years was significantly associated with epilepsy (OR: 11.2 [2.1; 60.9]. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures were the more frequent form of epilepsy (71.4%). All patients had had at least one seizure in the last six months. Only one patient of the 7 had used antiepileptic drug therapy (phenobarbital).

This study, like others in Africa, suggests that epilepsy is not rare among young adults at Tourou in Northern Benin and that treatment of epilepsy in this area is inadequate.