Wikipedia is the most commonly accessed source of health information by both healthcare professionals and the lay public worldwide. We aimed to evaluate information-seeking behavior of Internet users searching the Italian Wikipedia for articles related to
epilepsy and its treatment. Using Pageviews Analysis, we assessed the total and mean monthly views of articles from the Italian Wikipedia devoted to
epilepsy,
epileptic syndromes, seizure type, and
antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) from January 1, 2015 to October 31, 2017. We compared the views of the article on
epilepsy with those of articles focusing on
Alzheimer's disease,
migraine,
multiple sclerosis,
syncope, and
stroke and adjusted all results for crude disease prevalence. With the only exception of the article on
multiple sclerosis, the adjusted views for the Italian Wikipedia article on
epilepsy were higher than those for the other
neurological disorders. The most viewed articles on seizure type were devoted to tonic-clonic seizure, typical
absence seizure, tonic convulsive
seizures, and clonic convulsive
seizures. The most frequently accessed articles on
epilepsy syndromes were about
temporal lobe epilepsy and
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The most frequently viewed articles on AEDs were devoted to
valproic acid,
carbamazepine, and
levetiracetam. Wikipedia searches seem to mirror patients' fears and worries about
epilepsy more than its actual epidemiology. The ultimate reasons for searching online remain unknown. Epileptologists and
epilepsy scientific societies should make greater efforts to work jointly with Wikipedia to convey more accurate and up-to-date information about
epilepsy.