General surgery among long-term residents with and without active epilepsy at the Kork Epilepsy Centre - a prospective comparative one-year survey

Abstract

Background/aims: We prospectively assessed the frequency, type, severity and cause of treatment among the long-term residents of the Kork Epilepsy Centre in the year 2005.

Methods: All long-term residents were exclusively referred to the general surgeon practicing on the campus. Patients were divided into 2 groups comprising 285 patients with active epilepsy and 53 controls who either never had epileptic seizures or have remained seizure free for at least 4 years.

Results: The 1-year incidence of injuries was 54.2% among the active epilepsy group and 36.8% among controls (p = 0.0275). Several admissions due to differing reasons occurred in 16.8% of people with active epilepsy and in 7.5% of the controls (not significant). More than 2 admissions due to various reasons only occurred in patients with active epilepsy (range 3-9). Of all injuries, 41.3% were directly related to seizures. Among patients with active epilepsy, the 3 most frequent injuries were lacerations, bruises and fractures (29.6, 17.0 and 11.7%, respectively).

Conclusion: According to this prospective study, active epilepsy turned out to be a significant risk factor for injuries under homogenous patient and observer conditions.