Association and Prevalence of Alcoholism in Epileptic Patients at Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: The effects of alcohol are complexly interlinked with the pathophysiology of epilepsy. Given that both epilepsy and alcohol have a significant detrimental impact on the brain; it is essential to investigate alcohol's causative involvement as an independent risk factor for epilepsy. Thus, the study aimed to quantify alcohol as an etiologic factor of epilepsy and find its prevalence in the study population. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the general medicine wards of a tertiary care teaching hospital for six months. A total of 111 epileptic inpatients of both genders, above 18 years of age were included in the study. The Chi-Square Test of Independence was used to carry out a statistical analysis of the data. Results: The study comprised 111 epileptic patients. A strong association between alcohol consumption with a new onset of seizures was found (p<0.05, V=0.54). The prevalence of alcohol-related seizures was found to be 24.32%. Our statistical analysis also indicated that the new onset of seizure was significantly associated with alcohol consumption in the group of patients with co-morbidities (p<0.05, V=0.28). The study found that alcoholism was strongly associated with the precipitation of seizures and that alcohol-related seizure is prevalent in our study population. Conclusion: By considering the new onset of seizures as a serious adverse consequence of alcoholism, we are provided with an opportunity to counsel these patients on alcohol dependence while striving to optimize permanent pharmacological treatment to prevent further seizures. The prevention of more seizures should not take precedence over the treatment of alcohol dependence.