Epidemiologic studies of epilepsy are lacking from the majority of the Arab countries; although t... more Epidemiologic studies of epilepsy are lacking from the majority of the Arab countries; although there are significant needs for such studies. This study was conducted on a sample of Al-Manial Island, Cairo city, one of the highest cities in population density in the world. A community-based, door to door, cross-sectional study using multistage random sample including 512 families (1751 individuals). The study extended from March 2009 to September 2012 and involved three main stages; the preparatory stage, the field work stage and the stage of establishing epilepsy diagnosis and classifying confirmed epileptic patients. The lifetime point prevalence of epilepsy among inhabitants of Al-Manial island was 6.9/1000 inhabitants while the prevalence of active epilepsy was 5.1/1000 inhabitants. The age distribution showed bimodal peaks in adolescents and in elderly with equal sex ratio (6/855 vs 6/896). Focal seizures were the commonest type (58.3%) and the treatment gap was 66.7%. The prevalence of epilepsy among inhabitants of Al-Manial Island go in agreement with most global studies. High treatment gap detected in our study indicates that proper management of epilepsy requires a multi-factorial approach.
The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the most commonly used tool to quantify n... more The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the most commonly used tool to quantify neurological deficit in acute stroke, was initially developed in English. We present our experience in developing and validating an Arabic version of the NIHSS (arNIHSS). In 6months, 137 patients were recruited (mean age±standard deviation 62±12years; 48 women). For interrater agreement, weighted kappa value ranged from 0.36 to 0.66 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the whole scale was excellent at 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.94-0.97). For intrarater agreement, weighted kappa ranged from 0.52 to 1.0 and the ICC was 0.94 (95% CI 0.87-0.98). The construct validity of the arNIHSS is demonstrated by its correlation with the DWI-ASPECT and the 3months mRS score (Spearman correlation -0.46 and 0.58 respectively; P<0.001 for both). We developed and validated a culturally adapted Arabic version of the NIHSS. Further validation in other Arab countries is recommended.
Epidemiologic studies of epilepsy are lacking from the majority of the Arab countries; although t... more Epidemiologic studies of epilepsy are lacking from the majority of the Arab countries; although there are significant needs for such studies. This study was conducted on a sample of Al-Manial Island, Cairo city, one of the highest cities in population density in the world. A community-based, door to door, cross-sectional study using multistage random sample including 512 families (1751 individuals). The study extended from March 2009 to September 2012 and involved three main stages; the preparatory stage, the field work stage and the stage of establishing epilepsy diagnosis and classifying confirmed epileptic patients. The lifetime point prevalence of epilepsy among inhabitants of Al-Manial island was 6.9/1000 inhabitants while the prevalence of active epilepsy was 5.1/1000 inhabitants. The age distribution showed bimodal peaks in adolescents and in elderly with equal sex ratio (6/855 vs 6/896). Focal seizures were the commonest type (58.3%) and the treatment gap was 66.7%. The prevalence of epilepsy among inhabitants of Al-Manial Island go in agreement with most global studies. High treatment gap detected in our study indicates that proper management of epilepsy requires a multi-factorial approach.
The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the most commonly used tool to quantify n... more The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the most commonly used tool to quantify neurological deficit in acute stroke, was initially developed in English. We present our experience in developing and validating an Arabic version of the NIHSS (arNIHSS). In 6months, 137 patients were recruited (mean age±standard deviation 62±12years; 48 women). For interrater agreement, weighted kappa value ranged from 0.36 to 0.66 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the whole scale was excellent at 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.94-0.97). For intrarater agreement, weighted kappa ranged from 0.52 to 1.0 and the ICC was 0.94 (95% CI 0.87-0.98). The construct validity of the arNIHSS is demonstrated by its correlation with the DWI-ASPECT and the 3months mRS score (Spearman correlation -0.46 and 0.58 respectively; P<0.001 for both). We developed and validated a culturally adapted Arabic version of the NIHSS. Further validation in other Arab countries is recommended.
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