Clinical and Paraclinical Profiles of Children Living with Epilepsy Admitted to Neuro-Psychopathological Center of Kinshasa

<i>Background</i>: children in Africa are mainly affected by epilepsy. This study describes the clinical and paraclinical profiles of epileptic children followed at the Neuro-Psychopathological Center of the University of Kinshasa (CNPP/Unikin). <i>Method</i>: a descriptive cross-sectional study analyzed the files of patients aged ≤ 15 years old admitted to the pediatric neurology unit of the CNPP/Unikin, from December 2015 to December 2020. The variables of interest were sociodemographic, clinical, and evolutionary. Excel 2010 and SPSS version 20.0 were used to manage the data. <i>Results</i>: 118 files of children (70 boys and 48 girls) were collected; 40.7% were between 11 and 15 years old. The mean (SD) age was 8.2 (4.1) years. Sixty percent of admissions were due to epilepsy. Forty-seven (39.8%) patients had idiopathic epilepsy. The majority (83.1%) of seizures is generalized and tonic-clonic seizure is predominant (64.4%). Comorbidities were dominated by neurodevelopmental disorders (8%). Nutritionally, hypocalcaemia (51.7%), hypomagnesaemia (16%) and hypokalemia (1.7%) were observed. Abnormalities during pregnancy and childbirth (23.7%) were the most common etiological factors. The seizures outcome under treatment was characterized, in general, by regression (64.4%). <i>Conclusion</i>: epilepsy is the leading cause of admission in CNPP/Unikin neuropediatric unit, with increasing rates. Nutritional disorders, abnormalities during pregnancy, and childbirth are the dominant etiological factors in these children living with epilepsy. Therefore, health policies must be deeply reassessed, Sub-Saharan Africa, to improve the management and prevention of both epilepsy and identified etiological factors.