Altered quality of life in epilepsy: significance of interictal depression

Abstract

Depressive disorders, as the most common interictal psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy, with prevalence rates of 10-60% of the patients, are an important issue in the management of people with epilepsy. AIM AND METHOD: We assessed the frequency, severity and the impact of comorbid depressive disorder on the quality of life (QOL) of people with epilepsy (PWE). The research was conducted on 106 patients with idiopathic epilepsy (41 males and 65 fe males), aged 18 to 60 years. There search protocol was applied interictally. Comorbid depressive disorder was diagnosed according to ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for affective and delusional disorders and supported by evaluation on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17). QOL was measured by Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31). Statistical analysis included analysis of variance, correlation analysis, t-tests analysis. RESULTS: Comorbid depressive disorder affected 30(28.3%) of all patients. Based on HAM-D-17 scores depression was defined as mild in 24(80%) patients, moderate in 5(17%) and severe in 1(3%) patient. There were significant between-group differences for the QOLIE-31 overall score and all scores on QOLIE-31 subscales which were lower for the patients with comorbid depressive disorder. A moderate correlation was found between the interictal depressive disorder and lower scores for QOLIE-31 overall score and overall quality of life, emotional well-being, energy/fatigue and social functioning subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbid depressive disorder is relatively common in PWE resulting in significant reduction of QOL of the affected subjects. These data clearly high light the need to better appreciate its importance in the overall treatment plan of patients with epilepsy. Scripta Scientifica Medica 2011;V.43(1):47-50