Table 4 Treatment of persons with epilepsy from four different studies
From: Characteristics of people with epilepsy in three Eastern African countries – a pooled analysis
Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) | Tanzania (Haydom) | Malawi | Uganda | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | 302 | 212 | 365 | 300 | |
ASM | 270 (89.7) | 209 (98.6) | 248 (67.9) | 233 (77.7) | |
ASM type | monotherapy | 243/268 (90.7) | 209/209 (100) | 222/229 (96.9) | 233/233 (100) |
carbamazepine | 134/268 (50.0) | 156/209 (74.6) | 7/229 (3.1) | 31/233 (13.3) | |
phenobarbital | 103/268 (38.4) | 53/209 (25.4) | 201/229 (87.8) | 55/233 (23.6) | |
phenytoin | 2/268 (0.7) | 0/209 | 14/229 (6.1) | 147/233 (63.1) | |
valproic acid | 4/268 (1.5) | 0/209 | 0/229 | 0/233 | |
combination therapy | 25/268 (9.3) | 0/209 | 7/229 (3.1) | 0/233 | |
carbamazepine, phenobarbital | 13/268 (4.9) | 0/209 | 0/229 | 0/233 | |
carbamazepine, phenytoin | 4/268 (1.5) | 0/209 | 2/229 (0.9) | 0/233 | |
carbamazepine, valproic acid | 1/268 (0.4) | 0/209 | 0/229 | 0/233 | |
phenobarbital, gabapentin | 1/268 (0.4) | 0/209 | 0/229 | 0/233 | |
phenobarbital, phenytoin | 6/268 (2.2) | 0/209 | 5/229 (2.2) | 0/233 | |
missing/unknown | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
Ever treated with other ASM | 78 (27.2) | NA | NA | 31 (10.3) | |
Reason for changing ASM | no response | 9/24 (37.5) | NA | NA | 17/31 (54.8) |
side effects | 8/24 (33.3) | NA | NA | 0/31 | |
stock-out | 2/24 (8.3) | NA | NA | 5/31 (16.1) | |
other | 5/24 (20.8) | NA | NA | 9/31 (29.0) | |
missing | 54 | NA | NA | 0 | |
Herbal treatment | 159 (53.5) | 105 (49.5) | 304 (83.2) | 108 (36.0) | |
Scarification | 56 (19.2) | 43 (20.3) | 33 (9.0) | 10 (3.3) | |