Suicidal Thoughts in 2,542 Pediatric Epilepsy Patients Compared with Pediatric Patient
Abstract number :
2.471
Submission category :
6. Cormorbidity (Somatic and Psychiatric)
Year :
2022
Submission ID :
2233007
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/4/2022 12:00:00 PM
Published date :
Nov 22, 2022, 05:29 AM
Authors :
Tatiana falcone, MD, FAAP, FAACAP – Cleveland Clinic; Hunter Block-Beach, Data Analyst – Data Analyst, Pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic; Christina Deiz, LISW-S – Research Coordinator, Epilepsy, Cleveland Clinic; Cseszneki Kathryn, LISW – Research Coordinator, Epilepsy, Cleveland Clinic; Tossone Krystel, PhD – Senior Research Associate, Research, Junction Psychological Services; Deepak Lachhwani, MD – Pediatric Epileptologist, Epilepsy center, Cleveland Clinic; Jane Timmons-Mitcheell, PhD – Research Associate, Research, Junction Psychological services
This is a Late Breaking abstract
Rationale: The PHQ-A is used system-wide to monitor mental health issues in The Cleveland Clinic pediatric practices. Between January 1, 2020, and September 1, 2020, 21, 124 PHQ-A’s were administered to pediatric patients 12- to 21 years old who came for any reason. A total of 905, or 4% of the patients, reported being in the High-Risk group, defined as achieving a PHQ-A score of 15 or more. In addition, patients reported a response greater than 0 to Question 9, having thoughts of self-harm or being better off dead in the past 2 weeks, from 2% to 6% of the time. As part of a HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) grant to improve care for children and youth with epilepsy and their families, the PHQ-9 has been administered to patients in pediatric epilepsy. We are interested in comparing the results of the pediatric sample on the PHQ-A to those of the pediatric epilepsy patients on the PHQ-9 during the current grant period While slightly different, both the PHQ-9 and PHQ-A have been used with adolescent samples. A national validation sample in Norway used the cutoff of 15 or greater on the PHQ-9, finding that 8.5% of girls and 2.6% of boys met this criterion for major depressive disorder.
Methods: Between September 1, 2019, and July 31, 2022, 2,542 patients in pediatric epilepsy completed the PHQ-9. 1,512 were female and 1,347 were male. Ages ranged from 1 year (completed by caregiver) to 24 years old. The racial makeup of the sample was predominantly White (45.85%) with significant representation from Black (28.85%) patients, followed by 7.32% multi-racial, 4.05% Asian, 0.28% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 0.04% other. Hispanic patients formed 6.7% of the sample. Data were divided into the number of administrations patients received during the study timeframe, ranging from 1 administration to 5 or more administrations.
Results: A total of 2,542 pediatric patients with epilepsy received the PHQ-A, among those who received the PHQ-A 1 time 128 had scores higher than 15, two times 7% (n=223), 3 times 17% (n= 51), 4 times 12%, 5 times 16%. The incidence of depressive symptoms (score higher than 15 was 7.58% on females (100), and 2.29% in males (28). Out of 2,542 patients with epilepsy, 226 reported suicidal ideation as identified as more than 1 in question 9 of the PHQ 9.
Conclusions: Related to pediatric patients, incidence of suicidal thoughts on the PHQ-9 is greater among pediatric epilepsy patients (2%-6% vs. 5%-10%). Consistent with prior studies, American Indian/Alaska Native patients in the pediatric epilepsy sample exceeded all averages for responding greater than 0 on Question 9 (16.67%). Black patients responded higher than other demographic groups, at 8.10%. Patients in the 21- to 24-year-old age range also responded higher than other groups, with 9.18% responding 1 or greater. Monitoring the mental health needs of at-risk racial and age related patients with epilepsy should be a priority in ongoing care of CYE.
Funding: Federal funding by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Cormorbidity (Somatic and Psychiatric)