Abstracts

Rationale: To determine whether children presenting with a first afebrile seizure are at greater risk of anxiety and/or depression.Methods: Children were seen in a First Seizure Clinic at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Inclusion criteria were children aged 7 to 17 years with a first unprovoked seizure. Children completed the Revised Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) prior to the clinic visit with the physician.Results: Twenty children (mean age 12 ± 2.8 yrs, 13 F/7 M) completed the RCMAS and 18 completed the CDI. Six children had generalized seizures, 11 had partial seizures and 3 were unclassified. Compared to RCMAS normative data, children reported significantly higher total anxiety scores (p=0.010), worry/oversensitivity scores (p=0.008), and social concerns/concentration scores (p=0.007). One child (5%) had a clinically significant score (>2 SD from the mean) that required further assessment. Although total CDI scores were not different from control data, children experienced a trend for interpersonal problems (p=0.024), ineffectiveness (p=0.030), negative mood (p=0.098) and self-esteem (p=0.081). Four children (22%) had clinically significant scores and required further assessment. Conclusions: Although our results are preliminary, we found that children presenting with a first seizure are at greater risk for anxiety and show a trend for specific subscales on the CDI including trouble getting along with others, social avoidance/social isolation, and a negative evaluation of one’s ability and school performance. Our results are in keeping with published data in children with epilepsy, suggesting that these symptoms may be present at time of first seizure presentation. If a larger cohort substantiates these results, screening for these at the time of epilepsy diagnosis would be important.