Abstract
Objectives: We aimed to identify the factors contributing to comorbid anxiety symptoms over a 12-month follow-up period in Chinese adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy.Methods: Adult patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy (PWNDE) were recruited from First Hospital, Jilin University. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire (GAD-7; Chinese version) at 12 months. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the predictors for anxiety symptoms at 12 months.Results: A total of 157 PWNDE completed the study and were included in the final analysis. The percentage of participants with anxiety symptoms significantly decreased from 31.2% at baseline to 23.6% at 12 months (p = 0.027). Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that depressive symptoms at baseline [odds ratio (OR) 3.877 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.683–8.933); P = 0.001] and the number of antiseizure medications (ASMs) during the follow-up period [OR 2.814 (95% CI 1.365–5.803); P = 0.005] were independent factors contributing to comorbid anxiety symptoms at 12 months.Conclusion: Depressive symptoms at baseline and the number of ASMs during the follow-up period were significant predictors of comorbid anxiety symptoms 12 months after a diagnosis of epilepsy.
Highlights
Epilepsy is a common severe brain disease that affects more than 70 million individuals worldwide [1, 2]
We aimed to identify the factors contributing to comorbid anxiety symptoms over a 12-month follow-up period in Chinese adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy
Multiple cross-sectional studies of comorbid anxiety symptoms have been conducted on patients with chronic epilepsy [10, 14, 20, 28], but limited evidence has investigated the predictors for the development of anxiety symptoms in PWNDE [21]
Summary
Epilepsy is a common severe brain disease that affects more than 70 million individuals worldwide [1, 2]. Patients with epilepsy (PWE) always have one or several additional comorbidities [3,4,5]. Epilepsy tends to be linked to psychiatric comorbidities, such as mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders [6,7,8,9]. Anxiety is a highly prevalent psychiatric comorbidity in PWE, and the incidence of anxiety is similar to that of depression [10,11,12,13]. Anxiety has been identified as a risk factor for poor quality of life, suicide risk, and poor seizure control in patients [15,16,17,18]. It is of vital importance to identify the risk factors contributing to anxiety symptoms to improve preventive
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