Global Campaign Against Epilepsy conducted the Demonstration Project to improve epilepsy care in rural China from 2000 to 2004. The project involved 5 provinces and 2,455 patients with convulsive epilepsy using phenobarbital monotherapy. Forty percent of the patients were seizure free in one year and another 30% had their seizures decreased by over half. With the support of the central government, the project has currently been extended to cover 12 provinces with 11,000 patients. The long-term plan is to integrate epilepsy management into the existing primary health delivery system of China.

Objective To analyze efficacy and its influencing factors of phenobarbital treatment for epilepsy management in rural China.Methods Total 3 315 patients with convulsive epilepsy from rural areas of 24 counties were enrolled in this joint epilepsy management program.All patients received phenobarbital monotherapy for 1 year during November 2011 to November 2013.The efficacy and potential influencing factors including sex,age,duration of epilepsy,number of seizures in the 12 months before management(≥2),previous treatment,daily dose of phenobarbital,taking other antiepileptic drugs and compliance of patients were studied with multivariate analysis.Results Among 3 315 patients,38.9％ were seizure-free during the entire management period.The rates of seizure-free in 15 to 39 y age group (35.2％,495/1 405)and in patients receiving irregular treatment previously (34.6％,625/1 808)were lower.The rates of seizure-free were higher in patients taking phenobarbital 60-90 mg everyday (49.4％,988/2 000) and those with good compliance(42.3％,1 160/2 744).Patients taking other antiepileptic drugs in 12 months had lower seizure-free rate (31.0％,45/145).Univariate analysis showed that gender of patients was not related to seizure-free rate (P ＞ 0.1).Multivariate analysis showed that the longer duration of epilepsy(OR =0.015,95％ CI:1.008-1.021,P ＜ 0.001),more seizures in the 12 months (OR =0.005,95％ CI:1.002-1.007,P =0.002) and the irregular treatment before management were the risk factors for low seizure-free rate (P ＜ 0.05).Patients received formal treatment or untreated had a lower risk of seizure compare with the irregular treatment (OR =0.737,95％ CI:0.611-0.889,P =0.001;OR =0.566,95％ CI:0.469-0.683,P ＜0.001).Patients with good compliance and with a daily dose of 60-89 mg phenobarbital(OR =0.107,95％ CI:0.013-0.905,P =0.040) were associated with high seizurefree rate;in contrast the poor compliance was a risk factor for not being seizure-free(OR =2.038,95％ CI:1.634-2.541,P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion Regular medication of phenobarbital with good compliance is effective for convulsive epilepsy management in rural China.

Objective To observe the efficacy and the side-effects of sodium valproate (VPA) in patients with epilepsy in rural China. Methods Epilepsy patients were selected from rural areas of Tianmen in Hubei province and Tiandong county in Guangxi province according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.Efficacy evaluation standard depending on the change of seizure frequency compared with the situation prior to entering the treatment group. Among the treated patients, no seizures, seizure reduced ＞ 75%, seizure reduced 50%-75% sums for the total effective rate. Results All 607 patients with epilepsy were treated and followed up, the male were 395 (65. 1% ) female 212 (34. 9% ), and 579 patients were treated for 12 months. Patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures were 517 (85.2%), absence seizures 20 (3. 3% )and the other types of seizures 70 (11.5% ) including simple partial seizures, tonic, clonic, myoclonic or atonic seizures etc. The completed control of seizures ( without any seizures) during the period after taking 3 months, 6 months, 12 months were 270 (45.5%), 249 (42. 3% ) and 238 (41.1%) respectively. The total effective rates in the three periods were 65.2% , 75.4% and 85.5% respectively. The 58 patients in the total group showed side-effects during the follow-up period, mainly including drowsiness, lethargy,fatigue, dizziness, headache and tremor. Nineteen patients (3. 1% ) quitted the treatment group.Conclusions The VPA is an effective antiepileptic drug and no more severe side-effects. It is the same as Phenobarbital and suitable to be used in rural areas of China.

Objective To find out the prevalence rate of epilepsy,its treatment gap and quality of life of epilepsy patients in rural areas of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).Methods Cluster sampling was adopted to conduct a door-to-door epidemiological survey among 14 822 rural population in Gangka town, Zhaxigang and Quzika village located in Medrogongka and Markham counties of TAR.The quality of life was measured by the 31-item quality of life in epilepsy inventory (QOLIE-31).Results Thirty-seven epilepsy patients were diagnosed as convulsive epileptic patients,and the prevalence was 0.25%.Thirty-five patients (94.59%) were diagnosed as active epilepsy,with a prevalence rate of 0.24%.Only one patient took standard Western Medicine within a week before the survey,and the treatment gap of the active epilepsy was 97.1%.The average QOLIE-31 total score was 42.15?17.63,and the lowest subcomponent score was 22.59?20.31 for seizure worry with the highest subcomponent score 85.83?18.59 for medication effects. Age,occupation,education,economic status,age at epilepsy onset and seizure frequency were significantly correlated with low QOLIE-31 scores (P