Prevalence of seizures and paralysis in a rural community

A cross-sectional study covering four adjoining villages in Haryana during 1993 was carried out among 8595 subjects to find out cases having seizures or paralysis. The prevalence of seizures (n = 69) was found to be 8.03 per 1000 population. Out of 69 seizures, 48(69%) were true seizures and 21(31%) were febrile seizures. The prevalence of seizures was highest (14.05 per 1000) in the age group of > 1-4 years. Of 40 males with seizures, 22(55%) had epileptic seizures and 18(45%) had febrile seizures. Of the 29 females, 26(89%) had epileptic seizures and 3(11%) had febrile seizures. There were 25 cases of pseudoseizures. The prevalence of paralysis (n = 60) was 6.98 per 1000. Of these, 38 cases (63%) were due to poliomyelitis which is the highest so far the paralysis is concerned. Of 60 cases, 34 occurred among males and 26 among females. The prevalence of paralysis was highest (12.42 per 1000) among 0-1 year age group. As the prevalence of seizures is sufficiently high in rural areas, the primary health care doctors should be trained in counselling and therapy of seizures. As regarding paralysis due to poliomyelitis the recent success of pulse polio immunisations is commendable and which in near future is expected to eradicate poliomyelitis.