Epilepsy and Malaria in Children Aged 1 to 15 Years in Parakou in 2018: Case-Control Study

OBJECTIVE: To study the link between malaria and epilepsy in children in Parakou district. METHODS: This case-control study included children 1-15 years of age with epilepsy. Each case of epilepsy was matched to 2 controls for age, sex and neighborhood of residence. The exposure variables were a history of malaria (number and type), family history of epilepsy and other past medical history. The odds ratios (OR) and their confidence interval were used to estimate association. RESULTS: A total of 123 children including 41 children with epilepsy and 82 controls were included. The overall average number of malaria episodes per year in both groups combined was 1.8 ± 0.9 episodes. In the multivariate analysis, cerebral malaria (OR: 50.35 [5.28-480.30]), family history of epilepsy (OR: 12.17 [2.15-69.01]) and number of malaria episodes (OR: 13.27 [4.53-98.48]) were associated. CONCLUSION: This study supports the association between cerebral malaria and the onset of epilepsy.