Actress Dalila Carmo, 51, was the latest personality to publicly reveal her diagnosis of epilepsy. “It was traumatic.”
“It seemed that we had a lower prevalence and this was not confirmed. We have a prevalence 2.2 times larger of epilepsy in Portugal,” estimated new study, compared to the latter, about 30 years ago and only in the northern region.
Nearly 100 thousand people They have in Portugal, more than double what the previous data indicated, and almost half do not have a medical follow-up of their neurological disease, estimates a study released on Tuesday.
The results of the Epiport epidemiological study of the Portuguese League against Epilepsy (), point to a prevalence of 9.76 cases per 1,000 inhabitantsfar higher than 4.4 cases identified in the last study, conducted about 30 years ago and only in the northern region.
“It was a number that was below other European countries and even the global prevalence that had been described in an International League report against epilepsy. It seemed that we had a smaller prevalence and, in fact, it was not confirmed. We have a prevalence 2.2 times higher of epilepsy in Portugal ”, The Lusa agency the outgoing president of the LPCE told Lusa.
According to Carla Bentes, the new study, which involved an inquiry to more than 10,000 people throughout the national territory, estimates a total of 100,993 cases of this neurological disease in the country.
“What we saw was not that there were unsuccessful cases. What we saw was that Many of these patients have no medical follow -up, namely about 43.7%which is something that makes us something alarmed, ”said the neurologist.
The results also indicate that 20% of patients with epilepsy had not had a crisis for over 10 years, said Carla Bentes, for whom these data advise a “greater follow -up and better follow -up of these patients.”
In addition, the study has found that many patients are taking several epileptic anticrise drugs, “means that there are probably more sick with refractory epilepsy than what was thought,” said the expert. “Does patients with refractory epilepsy are all being followed or at least having an assessment in one of the five refractory epilepsy centers that exist in Portugal and which were consisted of exactly that goal?
In about one third of people with epilepsy the medication is insufficient for proper control of epileptic seizures. When two drugs have been tempted and the crises persist, it is considered refractory epilepsy, also known as drug-resistant epilepsy.
Given the conclusions, the LPCE, created in 1971, considers it necessary to “rethink epilepsy and the way these patients are followed in Portugal”. Carla Bentes also warned of the “Huge impact” of the diseasewhich has neurobiological, psychological, social, professional and family consequences in patients.
What is epilepsy
Epilepsy is a disease originated in the brain and which is characterized by the occurrence of crises that are due to a abnormal discharge of neurons (brain cells) suddenly and unpredictably.
These crises are usually short -lived – a few seconds a few minutes ago – and their frequency varies from person to person. The causes for epilepsy can be genetic, metabolic, autoimmune, infectious, but unknown causes still represent about one third of cases.
Last week, Dalila Carmo (pictured), one of the most recognized actresses in Portugal, publicly revealed its diagnosis. He found that he suffered from epilepsy after passing out on stage for over 20 years.
“A few years ago I fainted on stage and that was a very traumatic episode that, in a way, conditioned my relationship with the theater and forced me to dose it, to phase it and, above all, to do so only surrounded by people whom I feel close and with whom I don’t have a feeling of guilt,” said the actress in Antena 1 ‘.’ Carmo explains that today “is controlled”, but “the truth is that the trauma And the fear that it would happen again prevented me from doing many projects, ”he confessed.
“For a lot of time it was a tabuHide people told me that I couldn’t talk about it, because I could run out of work and, in fact, I always lived too shrunk by this condition. Only now is that I am learning to deconstrate. I have this, sorry. I can’t do it anymore, I easily have a ‘burnout’ and my head needs to have freedom, ”said the artist.
