Awareness and attitudes towards epilepsy in Ardabil medical and non-medical university students

Background: Epilepsy is a common neurologic disease that caused many problems such as more costs and social problems due to negative attitudes to disease for patients. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of medical and non-medical students toward epilepsy in Ardabil city, Iran. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted in Ardabil city (Northwest of Iran) in 2017. 150 students selected randomly from all medical and non-medical students that completed the self-administered questionnaire which provided for this study. Collected data analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS version 19. Results: Of all students, 30% were girls and rests of them were boy. Of all students, 47.3% had moderate knowledge and 44.7% had well attitudes about epilepsy. Most of boys with 51.1% and most of girls with 45.7% had moderate knowledge but no significant difference between two sexes. Most of boys with 43.8% and most of girls with 46.7% had moderate attitudes towards epilepsy but no significant difference between two sexes. Conclusion: Results showed that most of students in this study had moderate knowledge and good attitudes towards epilepsy.