Depression and anxiety in patients with epilepsy

Abstract

Background: Anxiety and depression are commonly found in epileptic patients. However, the etiology behind the mechanism remains multifactorial, mostly because of variability in study settings. In order to fill the knowledge gap, we investigated the prevalence of anxiety and depression among epileptic patients and their correlation with certain demographic variables.Methods: In a Cross Sectional Out Patient Based Study, a total of 147 patients with epilepsy were recruited and evaluated for inclusion and exclusion criterion. Participants who met the inclusion criterion were assessed using standardized scales HARS and HADS rating scale for anxiety and depressive symptoms respectively.Results: 100 participants were included with mean age of 33.63 years for men and 30.16 years for females. 27% showed mild to severe anxiety and 21% had mild to moderate depression. Prevalence of both anxiety and depression was found more among females, singles, participants from urban background and having partial epilepsy. Significantly (p-0.020*) higher anxiety was seen in patients with partial epilepsy than those with generalized epilepsy.Conclusions: Individuals with partial epilepsy are more prone to get affected from comorbid disorder like anxiety and depression, especially females, singles and those from urban domicile.