Interictal personality change and its related factors in epilepsy patients

Abstract

Objective To explore the personality change in patients with epilepsy during the interictal period and the correlation between clinical features and personality change. Methods One hundred and fifteen patients with idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy were chosen as the epileptic group and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects served as controls. All participants were evaluated by Mini Mental Status Examination and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale to ensure the normality of cognition and mental state. Personality was evaluated by adult version of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire （EPQ）in interictal epilepsy patients and healthy controls. Scores of psychoticism (P), extraversion (E), neuroticism (N) and lie (L) were obtained using computer software. Pearson correlation analysis and logistic regression were used to investigate the scores of EPQ and influential factors. Results P and N scores were significantly elevated in epilepsy patients compared with controls （P scores:50.48±9.55 vs 46.59±7.28, N scores: 51.13±12.89 vs 46.83±9.40; t=2.374, 2.266，both P<0.05）, while E scores were significantly decreased (51.74±10.74 vs 60.37±9.84; t=-4.511，P<0.01). There were no significant differences in L scores. Multivariate analysis showed that disease duration was independently correlated to P scores (β=0.043，P<0.05), while education was correlated to E scores (β=0.109，P<0.05). There were no significant correlations between personality scores, patient age, gender, age of onset, frequency, seizure type, National Hospital Seizure Severity Scale scores, family history, history of status epilepticus and anti-epileptic drugs usage. Conclusions High psychoticism and neuroticism and low extraversion scores are correlated to patients with epilepsy during the interictal period. Disease duration is an independent risk factor for psychoticism personality, and education level is an independent risk factor for extraversion personality in epilepsy patients. Key words: Epilepsy; Personality disorders; Questionnaires