The present study summarises relevant articles on the epidemiology of childhood epilepsy in the local scene published over the past twenty years. We performed a search of the Medline and a manual search of Hong Kong Medical Journal, Hong Kong Practitioner, Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics, Chinese Medical Journal using the key words 'epilepsy', 'children' and 'Hong Kong'. Overall, the prevalence of childhood epilepsy in Hong Kong can be estimated and the natural history of seizures in our patients can be better determined. Disorders using International League Against Epilepsy classifications, such as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes, childhood absence epilepsy and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy are increasingly being recognised in Hong Kong. Aetiologies of epilepsies could be delineated in a great proportion of patients. Early predictors of medical intractability were identified. CNS infection and perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy were common causes of remote symptomatic epilepsy and the resulting seizures were often medically intractable.
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