INTRODUCTION: Although the beneficial effect of physical activity in general population and those with different types of diseases, people with epilepsy are often discouraged and excluded from physical activity participation. This usually occurs due the fear that physical activity might induce or worse epileptic seizures. Stigma and prejudice are factors which contribute to these attitudes. In spite of several studies in literature have analyzed the relationship between epilepsy and physical activity, there are no evident data evaluating the teenager population profile in relation to their physical activity habits. OBJECTIVE: Therefore, we sought to study the degree of participation in physical activities among teenagers with epilepsy of Toledo City-PR using a questionnaire. METHODS: Teenagers outpatients with epilepsy were checked by Consortium (CISCOPAR) in Toledo City-PR and invited to participate as study subject during a workaday visit at professional physician. RESULTS: All the teenagers reported opportunities of leisure time. Eighty percent of the teenagers participated physical activities, but not all of them regularly. Sixty-nine percent of the individuals (n = 20) in our study presented seizures during physical exercise and fifty-two percent (n = 14) were afraid that exercise might cause seizures. CONCLUSION: In spite of the small number of individuals analyzed in this study, our results show that epilepsy has a negative influence on physical activity habits in adolescents.
Physical exercise; epilepsy; adolescent; physical activities habits
