Clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and seizure control among children with focal and generalized epilepsy at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania: A cross-sectional secondary analysis

This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns of children with focal and generalized epilepsy and to identify factors associated with seizure control at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania. We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional secondary analysis of 427 children and adolescents (aged 0-17 years) with a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy whose caregivers were enrolled in a primary study between June and October 2023 at the pediatric neurology clinic of a national referral hospital in Dar es Salaam. Primary outcomes included epilepsy type distribution, treatment patterns (monotherapy vs. polytherapy and specific antiseizure medications), and level of seizure control. The secondary outcome was the identification of factors associated with seizure control, analyzed using ordinal logistic regression and reported as adjusted odds ratios (aORs). Focal epilepsy was the predominant type (52.5%). Most children (65.8%) had infantile seizure onset (