Abstracts

Mood disorders are prevalent in persons with epilepsy. As part of the Epilepsy Foundation of America[apos]s initiative on mood disorders, a professional education subcommittee developed a survey to assess knowledge of and attitudes and practices towards mood disorders in epilepsy. The survey entitled [quot]Mood in Epilepsy Neurology Practice Questionnaire[quot] consisted of 14 questions including three demographic items. A 5-degree Likert scale was developed for most answer choices. The survey was piloted by some attendees of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) meeting in December 2004. Unselected attendees who passed by the EFA booth were asked to complete the anonymous, 1-page survey. Ninety-nine responses were obtained and the total number of answers to selected questions are listed below.
1) How often do you ask epilepsy patients about their mood?
Never 2/Rarely 4/Sometimes 21/Often 47/Always 25
2) How much do you think that symptoms of a mood disorder are important factors in determining an epilepsy patient[apos]s quality of life?
Very little 2/To a mild degree 1/Somewhat 2/Quite a bit 46/A lot 48
3) When you diagnose a mood disorder in an epilepsy patient, how often do you initiate a medication to treat it (medication for depression, anxiety, etc)?
Never 4/Rarely 15/Sometimes 37/Often 39/Always 4
4) When you diagnose a mood disorder in an epilepsy patient with a mood disorder, how often do you refer the patient to a psychiatrist for initiation of treatment?
Never 2/Rarely 14/Sometimes 34/Often 38/Always 11
5) How frequently do you limit your prescribing of antidepressants because of concern about exacerbating seizures?
Always 1/Often 7/Sometimes 31/Rarely 41/Never 18
6) Your age in years 25-35=14/35-45=38/45-55=21/55-65=18/65 and older=1
7) Type of Practice
Adult Neuro [ndash]Academic 32/Adult Neuro [ndash] Private 5/Adult Epi [ndash]Academic 15/Adult Epi [ndash] Private 1/Ped Neuro[ndash]Academic13/ Ped Neuro [ndash] Private3/Ped Epi [ndash]Academic12/Ped Epi[ndash] Private 2
8) Number of Years in Practice 1-9=41/10-20=18/[gt] than 20=27 These results reflect the youthful and highly academic membership of the AES who are well-informed about the importance of mood disorders in epilepsy, and are very likely to either initiate antidepressant medication or refer for that purpose. Further, concern about exacerbating seizures is not a reason for withholding antidepressant medication among these practitioners. These findings suggest that educational efforts regarding mood disorders and epilepy have favorably impacted the practices of AES members, but whether this holds true in a larger group of general neurology practictioners assessed in a less biased manner remains to be determined.