Patients’ attitude and knowledge about epilepsy in the North of Iran in 2016 - 2018

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is a severe problem incorporating a high degree of the misconception that influences the quality of life of individuals suffering from the disease. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of patients with epilepsy toward the disease. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 155 individuals with epilepsy aged ≥ 18 years from August 2016 to Jun 2018 in an outpatient clinic of a medical university in Sari City, North of Iran. Thirty-four closed-ended questions were developed, including 14 items about knowledge, 11 items about attitudes, and nine questions about knowledge profile-personal toward epilepsy. Answers to the questions were either “yes,” “no,” or “I do not know.” The chi-square (χ2) test was used to explain the association between variables and demographic information. Results: The mean age of the participants was 31.73 ± 11.06 years. Regarding the cause of epilepsy, 85.8% of the participants reported that epilepsy is a brain disorder. Moreover, in terms of the knowledge score, 54.8% of the participants had a fair knowledge of epilepsy. Accordingly, patients with university education had good knowledge about the disease (P = 0.007). In terms of attitudes toward epilepsy, 82.6% of the patients had a positive attitude toward the disease but had no good awareness of it. These positive attitudes were associated with a high education level (P = 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed that despite the positive attitude toward epilepsy, good knowledge about the disease was still below 50%.