Prevalence and Causes of Seizures in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

Introduction: Epilepsy is a chronic disease with a very high prevalence in developing countries. While the links between alcohol and epileptic seizures are now well established, the clinical context of alcohol-related seizures remains debated. Several studies carried out in emergency departments and neurology wards have shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with 40% to 50% of seizures observed in adult patients admitted for epileptic seizures, making AUD the main risk factor for seizures in adults. There are few epidemiological studies on the prevalence of epilepsy in patients with alcohol use disorder (PWAUD) and alcoholism in patients living with epilepsy (PWE). Objectives: We aimed to investigate the prevalence and aetiologies of epileptic seizures in chronic alcohol abusers in three Yaoundé referral hospitals over the last 10 years (January 2006 to December 2015). Methodology: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on Cameroonian chronic alcoholics who presented at least one epileptic seizure and were hospitalised between January 2006 and December 2015 in the internal medicine units of three referral hospitals in Yaoundé. The sampling method was consecutive and exhaustive. Results: We obtained 250 chronic alcoholics aged between 25 and 89 years, with an average age of 54.26 ± 30.27 years. Eighty per cent consumed between 60 and 100g of alcohol per day. The prevalence of epileptic seizures in chronic alcoholics was 16.4%. The majority of seizures were generalised (61%), and mainly tonic-clonic (48.8%). The most common causes were infectious, with cerebral toxoplasmosis being the most frequent infectious aetiology (22%). Other aetiologies included toxic causes (alcohol withdrawal 17.1% and acute intoxication 7.3%); vascular causes (14.6%); traumatic causes (9.8%) and undetermined causes (9.8%). Conclusion: The prevalence of epileptic seizures in chronic alcohol abusers in Cameroon is very high. These seizures have various aetiologies and are