Epilepsy in Hong Kong: a literature review.

OBJECTIVE To review data on the causes, clinical features, and management of patients with epilepsy in Hong Kong. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE and Chinese Current Medical Contents were used to search the literature. A manual search of the Hong Kong Medical Journal, Hong Kong Practitioner, and Chinese Medical Journal (1982-2002) was also undertaken. STUDY SELECTION Key words for the literature search were 'epilepsy' and 'Hong Kong'. DATA EXTRACTION All relevant articles in English or in Chinese language were reviewed. DATA SYNTHESIS Overall, disease characteristics and the response to both medical and surgical treatments of epilepsy among local Chinese patients with epilepsy was found to be comparable to that reported for patients in western countries. Knowledge of epilepsy among the general population was more limited than expected from the international literature, and attitudes to epilepsy relatively more negative, adding to the psychosocial burden for people with epilepsy. CONCLUSION Further research in Hong Kong on aspects of epileptology is indicated with a view to developing more innovative and effective therapy.