Abstracts

Rationale: Depression, a common comorbidity in persons with epilepsy (PWE), increases suicide risk and decreases quality of life. Identifying relationships between depression severity and clinical factors may help with appropriate recognition and management of neuropsychiatric conditions in PWE. This analysis, using baseline data from a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT) on epilepsy self-management, assessed the relationship between depression severity and demographic and clinical variables. Methods: Data was derived from the baseline RCT sample of 120 PWE with depression severity evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Demographic characteristics, epilepsy variables, and medical and psychiatric comorbidities were examined in association with PHQ-9. Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM-R), Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-10) and Charlson Comorbidity Index assessed health literacy, quality of life and medical comorbidity respectively.  Results: Approximately half of the sample (n= 62) had at least moderate depression severity. Among demographic characteristics, only inability to work was significantly associated with depression severity (p=0.05). Higher 30-day seizure frequency (p Comorbid bipolar disorder (p=0.02), panic disorder (p<0.01), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (p<0.01) were correlated with worse depression severity while medical comorbidity showed no association. Conclusions: The literature supports our findings of correlations between worse depression, seizure frequency and lower quality of life. Less well-studied is our finding of greater depression severity and selected psychiatric comorbidities in PWE. Management of PWE should include early identification of psychiatric comorbidities and targeted treatments that improve care and outcomes. Funding: This study was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention SIP 14-007 1U48DP005030.