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. 2022 Oct 19:13:994305.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.994305. eCollection 2022.

Is there an epilepsy belt of high prevalence rate in China?

Li Wu  1 , Zeming Ye  2 , Youfu Li  1 , Ming Luo  1 , Shaojun Li  1 , Hongyan Mi  1 , Zhihua Qiu  1 , Yongjun Jiang  1
Affiliations

Is there an epilepsy belt of high prevalence rate in China?

Li Wu et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is one of the leading neurological diseases. Our study is aimed to determine whether there is a focal region of high epilepsy prevalence in China.

Methods: All studies published between 1981 and 2020 investigating the prevalence of epilepsy in China were systematically reviewed. The geographical location, sample size, number of cases, urbanization rate, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, percentage of <15 years old, and medical insurance per capita were derived and analyzed. Criteria for a provincial region of high prevalence was defined as with higher epilepsy prevalence than the average prevalence of epilepsy in China.

Results: A total of 60 studies provided data on the prevalence of epilepsy in 29 of 33 provincial regions of China. The average prevalence in China was 1.68 per 1,000, and 12 provincial regions met our criteria for a region of high epilepsy prevalence and constitute an epilepsy belt ranging along the division between the second step and the third step of China. The prevalence in the epilepsy belt was 331.9 per 100,000 population compared with 125.3 per 100,000 in regions outside the belt (P < 0.05). Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in sample size, number of cases, urbanization rate, GDP per capita, percentage of <15 years old, or medical insurance per capita between the regions in and outside the epilepsy belt.

Conclusions: An epilepsy belt of high prevalence exists in 12 provincial regions locating along the division between the second step and the third step of China.

Keywords: China; epidemiology; epilepsy; prevalence; risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sampling rates of the 29 provincial regions from the enrolled 60 studies were shown. The sampling rates [(sampling size/numbers of population in 2018) × 1,000‰] were distinct across the country, higher in central area and Southeast regions and lower in West regions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A color-coded map of China showing the prevalence of epilepsy [(case/sampling size) × 1,000‰] in the 33 provincial regions with different color representing different prevalence. In this map, the epilepsy belt was highlighted with deeper colors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of epilepsy in 6 provincial regions over time, (A), Shandong, (B), Jiangsu, (C), Ningxia, (D), Sichuan, (E), Hunan, and (F), Tibet (Xizang Zizhiqu), respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The color-coded maps of possible risk factors for epilepsy in the 33 provincial regions with different color representing different rate. (A) Urbanization rates (%), (B) GDP per capita (/10,000 US Dollar), (C) percentage of <15 years old (%), (D) per capita medical insurance (/Yuan, RMB) in 33 provincial regions. There was no significant difference of the urbanization rate, GDP per capita, medical insurance per capita, and percentage of <15 years old between regions in and outside the epilepsy belt (P > 0.05), and none of them was correlated with the regional epilepsy prevalence (P > 0.05).
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