Comorbidities associated with pediatric epilepsy at a Cameroonian tertiary teaching hospital: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: epilepsy is responsible for a significant proportion of disease burden globally. Comorbidities of epilepsy alters the quality of life of patients. There is paucity of literature in Cameroon on comorbidities in children with epilepsy. The aim of our study was to describe the comorbidities and etiologies of pediatric epilepsy at the Yaounde Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. Methods: this was a cross-sectional study using consecutive sampling techniques carried out on 159 children aged 0-17 years old with epilepsy who were interviewed and examined at the Yaounde Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital, Cameroon. The data were collected from patient files and during routine outpatient visits examination. We calculated prevalence ratios of epilepsy, comorbidities, and their 95% confidence intervals and used log-binomial regression to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios.Results: the prevalence of epilepsy was 5.9 %. The mean age was 6.1 years (SD 4.4). Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy 45(28.3%) was the leading cause of epilepsy. Mental retardation 83(52.2%), cerebral palsy 50(31.4%), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder 48(30.2%), and malnutrition 38(23.9%) were the main comorbidities observed in children with epilepsy. The prevalence ratios of mental retardation (OR =22.27, 95% CI 3.9-473.0, p= 0.000) and cerebral palsy (OR 18.20, 95% CI 5.29-80.31, p= 0.000) were greater in patients with infantile spasms. The others epileptic encephalopathies were significantly associated with buccofacial apraxia (OR 13.70, p=0.000), cerebral palsy (OR 13.38, p=0.000), and malnutrition (OR 3.59, p=0.04).Conclusion: mental retardation, cerebral palsy, attention-deficit/hyperactivity, and malnutrition are the most common comorbidities among epileptic children in Cameroon.