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

International audienceObjective: To study the link between malaria and epilepsy in children in Parakou district. Methods: This case-control studyincluded children 1-15 years of age with epilepsy. Each case of epilepsy was matched to 2 controls for age, sex and neighborhoodof residence. The exposure variables were a history of malaria (number and type), family history of epilepsy and other past medicalhistory. The odds ratios (OR) and their confidence interval were used to estimate association. Results: A total of 123 childrenincluding 41 children with epilepsy and 82 controls were included. The overall average number of malaria episodes per year inboth groups combined was 1.8 + 0.9 episodes. In the multivariate analysis, cerebral malaria (OR: 50.35 [5.28-480.30]), familyhistory 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