Abstracts

Rationale: It has been suggested that epilepsy and some neuropsychiatric conditions may share pathogenic neurodevelopmental pathways and that epilepsy should be included in the spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders. Although an increased risk for schizophrenia and depression among people with epilepsy is well established, knowledge of the broader spectrum of psychiatric disorders associated with epilepsy is lacking. We used the unique nationwide health registers in Denmark to study the risk of developing psychiatric disorders among persons with epilepsy. Methods: Design and Setting: Danish population-based cohort study. Persons were followed up from birth for the development of mental disorders based on outpatient and inpatient data. Participants: All persons born between January 1, 1977, and December 31, 2000 residing in Denmark by their 10th birthday with follow-up data to December 31, 2010. Outcome: We estimated prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients diagnosed with epilepsy. Results: We followed 2,185,019 persons born after 1977 who were alive and living in Denmark on 31 December 2012. Among these, 28,633 (1.31%) were registered with epilepsy in the Danish National Hospital Register and 162,306 (7.43%) were registered with a psychiatric disorder in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register. We found that the risk of psychiatric disorders was higher among persons with epilepsy (N=6,629; 23.15%) compared to persons without epilepsy (N=155,677; 7.22%). Conclusions: These results suggest that there is a strong association between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders. Further studies will analyze risks associated with gender, age and important confounders.