Objective To assess the adult Hungarian population's knowledge about and attitude
toward epilepsy and compare the present findings with previous ones in 1994 and 2000.
Methods We performed a cross-sectional survey of the Hungarian adult population from
28th February to 8th March 2023. A non-probability quota sampling with a random walk
method was used. We applied the computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) method
and used a multicriteria weighting procedure to correct for bias along the main sociodemographic
variables. To detect changes over time, we used chi-squared tests, and to analyze
the effect of sociodemographic characteristics, we applied multivariate logistic regression.
Results One thousand participants (53.1% women, mean age 48.1 +/- 16.75 years) representing
Hungary's population were interviewed yielding a response rate of 80.3%. 26.3% knew
someone with epilepsy (55.9% in 1994 and 51.9% in 2000), and 30.8% saw an epileptic
seizure (58% in 1994 and 55.3% in 2000). Compared to the young, fewer adults and elderly
people knew someone with epilepsy or had seen a seizure. Like in 1994 and 2000, 16.6%
reported objection to their children's interaction with people with epilepsy; however,
in the present study, significantly fewer people opposed their children marrying or
working together with epileptic people, indicating a change in attitude (p < 0.0001).
Rural residents had less objection to their children's interaction with people with
epilepsy (p < 0.05). People with secondary education objected significantly more often
than those with primary education to their children's interaction (p = 0.037), marriage
to people with epilepsy (p = 0.043), or their having equal employment (p = 0.008).
Higher education people were as "permissive" as those with primary education. Significance
Certain parameters of familiarity and attitude markers of the Hungarian population
toward epilepsy have improved. These tendencies are promising, but work is still needed;
our results will hopefully evoke educational programs and campaigns against negative
attitudes. Plain Language Summary The knowledge of the Hungarian population about
epilepsy and their attitude toward people with epilepsy has been improved since 1994.
People from rural areas have shown more acceptance for people with epilepsy. Those
people who completed secondary education were significantly more prone to stigmatization
than those with primary education.
