Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders with no socio-economic boundaries, affecting 50 million people across the world (1). It's one of the most common prevalent neurological disorders having an estimated prevalence of 4-10/ 1000 people (2). It’s one of the diseases that requires long-term medications and care from caregivers. It is known to affect 8% of the population once in a lifetime (3). We do not know the common side effects that prevail in our population to ASM, nor do we have any nationwide data on co-morbidities in epilepsy patients. No national woment with epilepsy or pregnancy registry exists to date;.
According to the national survey conducted in Pakistan, the estimated prevalence is 9.9/1000. However, in Pakistan, studies show a higher prevalence of epilepsy in rural populations in low socioeconomic classes and males (4,5). According to the population-based survey, the treatment gap in urban areas is 25% and 72.5 % in rural areas (6). It can be assumed that epilepsy in Pakistan affects many more people than estimated prevalence due to a lack of awareness and healthcare accessibility. This is to also highlight that Pakistan is deficient in Neurologists, capable of diagnosing epilepsy. It is estimated that there is only one neurologist for 1.4 million people (7).
Studies conducted previously were either limited to specific regions or target specific populations. Thus. as with other neurological disorders, Pakistan lacks epidemiological and population-based studies, and no national database exists.
Principal investigator:
Mohammad Wasay MD, FRCP, FAAN
Fowzia Siddiqui MD
Neurology Section, Department of Medicine,
Aga Khan University, Karachi
Co-PI:
Shafaq Saleem, FCPS
Neurovascular Fellow, Section of Neurology,
Department of Medicine
Aga khan University, Karachi
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