Prevalence and correlates of cognitive adverse outcomes among epileptic patients - Evidence from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy accounts for 1% of the global burden of disease and affects over 60 million people worldwide imposing a large economic burden on global health-care systems. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of cognitive dysfunctions among epileptic patients.
Material and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study, and 148 patients diagnosed with epilepsy were screened using mini-mental state examination (MMSE).
Results: There were 148 epileptic patients involved in this study. The lowest MMSE score was 16, whereas the mean and median were 26.92 and 28, respectively. Females had higher mean MMSE scores than males (26.57 vs. 27.31). The marital status (divorced/widow/separated), younger age of diagnosis (<10 years), elderly (>60 years), longer duration (>10 years), and higher seizure frequency were associated with lower MMES score.
Conclusion: The low MMSE score was associated with poor prognosis indicators of epilepsy.