Objective: To characterize the care activity in the neurology outpatient clinic of the Marcos Vinicio Iza Hospital in the province of Sucumbíos, Ecuador. Patients and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive observational study, which included patients seen in a first general neurology consultation, between the months of June to November 2022. The variables analyzed included demographic data, related to healthcare activity and clinics. Results were compared between sexes and are shown by age group. Results: 733 patients were included in the study; the mean age was 35 years (SD ± 25.27) with a predominance of males (p 0.008). Most of the patients were of Ecuadorian nationality, followed by Colombians. 84% patients were referred from the primary level of care by family physicians, followed by internal medicine (7%) and pediatrics (6%) from the hospital. The main diagnostic categories treated were epilepsy (24.8%), headache (22.2%) and neurodevelopmental disorders (21.1%). Conclusion: The population we assist has specific characteristics. In our case we function as a consultant to other specialties, mainly Family Medicine. The greater frequency of patients with epilepsy and neuropediatric diseases requires changes in the provision of human resources and diagnosis to demand from the health authorities.
Enfermedades Neurológicas
Información epidemiológica sobre la morbilidad hospitalaria en el Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía de la ciudad de México durante el período 2002-2007.
Hospital morbidity provides information for the strategic planning and implementation of health actions and programmes.
Objective: To determine the main causes of hospital morbidity, its distribution and behavior during the period 2000-2007 at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City (INNN).
Materials and Methods: An observational, transversal retrolective study was carried out. Data was collected from discharge notes and from the hospital database from the Epidemiology Department. The different rates of morbidity were calculated and their tendencies were determined for a period of six years.
Results: The main causes of morbidity were malignant encephalic tumors and benign tumors from other endocrine glands. However, a tendency to the increment of subarachnoid hemorrhage (p=0.03), cerebrovascular diseases (p=0.04) and benign brain tumors and from other parts of the central nervous system (p=0.01) was found.
Conclusions: Even though this is not a population study, the information obtained from one of the main training institutes and centers of the world and the largest in Latin America, is of great importance. It can be seen how, even though cerebrovascular diseases showed a tendency to increase, benign encephalic tumors occupy the main rates regarding morbidity.
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Neurofobia entre los estudiantes de la Carrera de Medicina de sexto a décimo semestre en la Universidad Católica Santiago de Guayaquil.
Background: Neurophobia is defined as fear to neuroscience and clinical neurology. By the impact of neurological diseases worldwide, management of these disorders could be affected. No data exist of this phenomenon in Ecuador. Objectives: To evaluate the difficulty, knowledge, confidence and interest in neurology, neuroscience specialties, affinity factors for difficulty in neurology and neurological training among medical students.
Methods and Materials: A descriptive study was conducted at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil, surveying: difficulty, knowledge, confidence and interest among specialties; affinity to neuroscience as a specialty, factors contributing neurology´s perception as difficult, and neurological undergraduate training.
Results: The response rate was 78.32% (401/512). Neurology was the most difficult (3.01±0.048), the second with less clinical confidence (2.01±0.056), and third with less knowledge (1.96±0.058). The differences were significant (p <0.001). 70.82% did not plan to pursue a specialty related to neuroscience, 59.85% for absent personal affinity; 10.97% for poor teaching; Contrary, 29.18% want a related specialty in neuroscience, 19.95% by personal affinity and 9.23% for good teaching. Need to know basic neuroscience was the most important for the perception of difficulty (2.76±0.055) followed by poor teaching factor in neurological involvement (2.68±0.57). Training in Neurological Semiology the lowest (1.70±0.061) followed by Neuroanatomy (1.98±0.58) and Neurology (2.52±0.81). Neurologic semiology had the highest percentage of inadequate training (20.45%) compared to Neuroanatomy (9.47%) and Neurology (6.16%).
Conclusions: There is neurophobia among our students. Research and modifications in teaching must be developed to prevent neurophobia and contribute to “neurophilia.”
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Estudio Puerta-a-Puerta de Enfermedades Neurológicas en Atahualpa, una Población Rural del Litoral Ecuatoriano — Metodología y Definiciones Operacionales
We describe the methods and operational definitions of an epidemiological door-to-door survey for the detection of neurological disorders in Atahualpa, a rural community of approximately 2,600 inhabitants, located in the coastal region of Ecuador. We will determine the prevalence of epilepsy; the prevalence and incidence of cerebrovascular disease; the prevalence of dementia; the relationship between smoking, alcohol ingestion, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and stroke; the relationship between cysticercosis and epilepsy; and the prevalence of Taenia solium infection among individuals who tested positive for anti-cysticercal antibodies in serum. We hope that improved epidemiological knowledge on some differences of expression that such diseases may present according to racial, cultural, and socio-economic factors, may improve the control and management of these conditions in Atahualpa.
