The predictors of psychiatric disorders among people living with epilepsy as seen in a Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution

Abstract

Background:Mental disorders may complicate epilepsy which can further impair the quality of life of people living with this chronic neurological condition. The aim of this study was to determine the types of psychiatric disorders in patients with epilepsy and to determine the sociodemographic and clinical factors that may predict these psychiatric illnesses.Materials and Methods:This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out over a period of 6 months at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to determine the psychological health of 74 consecutively recruited adult patients with epilepsy attending the psychiatric outpatients' clinic of the hospital. Psychiatric diagnoses were based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 4th Edition criteria, and logistic regression analysis was done to determine variables that predict psychiatric disorder.Results:Majority of the participants were male (67.6%) with their age ranging from 18 to 68 years and the mean age of 30.55 ± 10.91 years. Thirty-three (44.6%) of our study respondents had psychiatric diagnoses that included major depressive disorder (21.6%), schizophrenia (17.6%), generalized anxiety disorder (4.1%), and hypomania (1.4%). Being unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 3.24. 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15–9.10, P = 0.026) and short-term seizure free period (OR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.04–0.78, P = 0.022) were the variables found to be predictive of psychiatric diagnoses.Conclusions:The study revealed that a large percentage of people living with epilepsy develop mental disorders which can further increase the burden and worsen the quality of life of patients with this chronic debilitating condition.

Prevalence of Depression among Epileptic Patients and its Association with Drug Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The remaining 16 studies were included in the analysis (Figure 2). The 16 articles reported on six cross-sectional studies from Ethiopia (14-17, 37, 38), one cross-sectional study from Kenya (13), five from Nigeria (39)(40)(41)(42)(43), two from Rwanda (44,45), one article from Sudan (46) and one from Zambia (47).…”

“…Sixteen studies with a total sample of 4,314 epileptic patients were assessed (Table 1). The majority of studies were conducted in Ethiopia (14-17, 37, 38), and Nigeria (39)(40)(41)(42)(43). The remaining were from Rwanda (44,45), Sudan (46), Zambia (47) and Kenya (13).…”

“…Most studies had moderate sample sizes; only two had small samples of less than 100 participants (40,41). Reported response rates were high (>90%) but more than half of the studies did not report a response rate and only one discussed the characteristics of nonresponders.…”

Comprehensive analysis of presurgical factors predicting psychiatric disorders in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis underwent cortico‐amygdalohippocampectomy

“…An interesting study discloses that uncontrolled seizures and polytherapy, sense of stigma, and less family support are predictors of high occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders in epilepsy patients . Meanwhile, short‐term seizure‐free period and employed status also have been reported to predict the presence of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and psychoses in epilepsy patients . Another retrospective study discloses an obvious association of a reduced cognitive function with a pejorative psychiatric outcome after the operation in adult patients with MTLE associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) that is the most common focal, drug‐resistant epilepsy syndrome .…”

“…The risk factors related to PD in epilepsy patients after surgery have raised concern, and some researchers suggest that several sociodemographic and clinical factors are correlated with PD among epilepsy patients, including employed status, seizure-free period, and marital problems. 13,14 However, little is known about the presurgical predictors for PD in refractory TLE-MTS patients received CAH. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of presurgical factors for PD in refractory TLE-MTS patients underwent CAH.…”