Survey on the knowledge of epilepsy to patients and their family members / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the epilepsy patients and their family members on their knowledge of the disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A 34-point questionnaire with 34 questions related to epilepsy knowledge was used for the survey on 170 pairs of epilepsy patients and their family members in Huashan hospital. Characters of the disease on the subjects were recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean scores of the epilepsy knowledge of the patients and their family members were 16.5 +/- 8.2 and 16.1 +/- 8.5, respectively. The scores were quite low with no statistical difference between patients and their family members. The rate of correct answer in the urban subjects was obviously higher than those subjects living in the rural areas. All the subjects lacked the knowledge on the "cause of disease" when comparing with items as "diagnosis" and "treatment". Multivariate analysis showed that rural residents (P = 0.0001, OR = 52.963) and low education level (P = 0.0294, OR = 2.266) related to low epilepsy knowledge score among epilepsy patients. However, for family members, the factor related to low score was only living in the rural area (P = 0.0001, OR = 37.229).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Education on the epilepsy knowledge should be strengthened, especially in the rural areas.</p>