Abstract
Background: People with epilepsy are more likely than the general population to have comorbid psychiatric disorders. There are several studies addressing the issue using various tools, but very few studies have been done on Indian population. Country-specific studies are necessary for proper and more accurate evaluation of psychiatric disorder in patients with epilepsy. Aim: To study the prevalence and correlates of psychiatric comorbidity in patients with epilepsy. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in the Neurology Outpatient Department of a tertiary care hospital and research centre attached to a medical college, from September 2018 to September 2020. By purposive sampling, 140 patients diagnosed with epilepsy by neurologist and attending neurology outpatient department were included in the study with their consent. Equal number of age- and sex-matched subjects without physical or psychiatric morbidity were selected as controls. Patients and participants were assessed on sociodemographic questionnaire, MINI international neuropsychiatric interview, quality of life in epilepsy, Depression Anxiety Stress scale, and Big five inventory. Results: Significantly more patients with epilepsy (n = 64;45.71%) as compared to the control group (n = 45;32.14%) were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders (Chi-square = 5.423; P = 0.019). Depression was seen in 33.57% of people suffering from epilepsy. Anxiety was seen in 25.714% of cases compared to 14.28% among controls.Stress is present in 9.28% of patients with epilepsy. The quality of life is poor in patients with epilepsy in comparison with participants from the control group. Epilepsy was associated with significantly lower scores on extraversionand significantly higher neuroticism scores. Conclusion: The prevalence of psychiatric disorder is significantly more in patients with epilepsy in comparison with the general population.Epilepsy had a negative impact on quality of life of the subjects.
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