Abstract

Introduction: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological pathology that causes psychological and neurocognitive alterations and affects socioeconomic aspects, which makes it an important public health problem. Objective: To describe sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in hospital discharges of patients diagnosed with epilepsy in Chile during the 2015-2019 five-year period. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study. The Statistical Report of Hospital Discharges of the Ministry of Health of Chile was used, a single database was constructed based on the records of hospital discharges diagnosed with epilepsy. (G.40). Results: 57.8% of hospital discharges corresponded to men and the age range of 45 to 59 years represented the highest proportion. At the national level, the majority health forecast was FONASA with 84.8%, a figure similar to that of care in public health establishments. The classification of unspecified type epilepsy (G40.9) was the most prevalent, the average days of hospitalization was 7.6 days, with a mortality rate of 6.3 per 1,000 hospital discharges and a hospitalization rate of 15.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. Conclusion: From the neurological diseases, epilepsy is the most frequent pathology of hospital discharges nationwide, with a higher incidence in adulthood, which is not consistent with the existing literature where a higher prevalence is noted in childhood and the elderly. It is pertinent to note that Chile has a long hospital stay when compared with other countries in the region.