Authors :
Presenting Author: Sidra Saleem, MD – The University of Toledo
Fahham Asghar, MD – The University of Toledo; Ajaz Sheikh, MD – The University of Toledo; Bashar Saour, MD – The University of Toledo; Sabeena Malik, MD – The University of Toledo; Rabia Zubair, MD – The University of Toledo; Meghana Ranabothu, Medical Student – The University of Toledo; Hira Pervez, MD – The University of Toledo; Imran Ali, MD – The University of Toledo; Elysia James, MD – The University of Toledo
Rationale:
Psychiatric disorders are a common comorbidity in persons with epilepsy. The purpose of our study was to estimate the prevalence of major depression (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in patients with focal, generalized and combined focal and generalized epilepsy. Our secondary objective was to identify the correlations that might exist with the antiseizure medications used.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study with data gathered from persons with epilepsy (PWE) presenting to a tertiary care epilepsy center at their initial visit. Patients were grouped based on the type of epilepsy, diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and the anti-seizure medications being used.
Results:
There are currently 3020 patients in the epilepsy database. One thousand four hundred thirteen patients were diagnosed with focal, 775 diagnosed with generalized, and 26 patients diagnosed with combined epilepsy, with a total cohort of 2214 patients. 1076 (48.6%) were male and 1138 (51.4%) female. Mean age was 39.7±22.5 years. One hundred sixty six (7.5%) patients within the cohort were diagnosed with MD. The prevalence of MD in various medication subgroups, taken as monotherapy or polytherapy, was as follows: 7.1% in valproic acid, 6.3% in levetiracetam, 5.6% in topiramate and 4.7% in lacosamide subgroup. Patients taking lamotrigine had significantly lower rates of MD at 4.8%, compared to other subgroups. (p < 0.05). A total of 88 patients (4%) in the cohort were diagnosed with GAD. Within the various medications subgroups, the prevalence rates were as follows: 3.5% in Topiramate, 3.4% in Levetiracetam, 3.2% in Valproic acid, 3.1% in Lamotrigine, and 2.2% in Lacosamide subgroup. No significant correlations were found within the subgroups.