Comments on Harden CL et al. A pilot study of mood in epilepsy patients treated with vagus nerve stimulation. Epilepsy & Behavior 2000;1:93–99

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify a possible effect of VNS on mood in patients with intractable epilepsy. Mood was assessed before and 3 months after VNS implantation in a series of adult patients with epilepsy. The mood scales used were the Cornell Dysthymia Rating Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety, and Beck Depression Inventory. Antiepileptic drug regimens were not changed during the study, and a group of adult patients with epilepsy, also on stable AED regimens, was used for comparison. Each group consisted of 20 patients. The VNS group showed a significant decrease in mood scale scores across time, indicating a decrease in depressive symptoms. The conclusion was that VNS was associated with improved mood scale scores across time. This did not occur in the comparison group. Further, there was no difference in mood scales over time between the VNS treatment responders and nonresponders, suggesting that mood changes were not related to seizure control. This study was conducted a few years after the VNS epilepsy studies (E03 to E05) that led to the approval of VNS for the treatment of epilepsy. It was based on the important clinical observations and confirmed at least a “signal” that patients with VNS seemed to have an improvement in mood.Thus, this wasthe firststudyto report apotentialrole of VNS in mood disorders.