Worrying More about Anxiety in Patients with Epilepsy

Abstract

In Clinical Science Commentary Approximately one-third of patients with epilepsy suffer from a psychiatric disorder (1). Depression and anxiety are the most common of these, especially with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, and are responsible for reduced quality of life and overall worse outcomes (2, 3), including worse surgical outcomes (4). The rising number of research publications in the area of comorbidities with epilepsy focuses mainly on depression and has demonstrated that depression is both a risk factor for and a consequence of epilepsy. Anxiety is also extremely common in people with epilepsy, especially in those who are depressed, and in the general population exceeds depression (5). Far less effort has been focused on the impact of anxiety in people with epilepsy. Part of the reason may be that anxiety is more complicated to study. It is difficult to differentiate anxiety that is due to antiepileptic drug side effects, from anxiety that is due to ictal panic, or from an anxiety disorder. While difficult to study, there are new efforts to understand the incidence and prevalence of anxiety in people with epilepsy. One large, validated, general population-based health survey in Canada showed that anxiety and depression (suicidal thoughts) in those with epilepsy had odds ratios of 2.4 and 2.2 compared with those without epilepsy (1). Another study using a metaanalysis found the pooled prevalence of anxiety (20.2%) and

Vitexin Possesses Anticonvulsant and Anxiolytic-Like Effects in Murine Animal Models

“…Indeed, one of the main psychiatric conditions observed for epileptic patients is anxiety. Anxiety affects approximately 20% of the people diagnosed with epilepsy and is responsible for a decreased quality of life and can worsen epilepsy control (Dworetzky, 2017;World Health Organization, 2019b). The actual pharmacological arsenal used in the clinical treatment for both disorders often causes important side effects, such as cognitive/locomotor impairments and sedation, which negatively affects therapeutic adherence (Diniz et al, 2019).…”

Ψυχιατρικές Εκδηλώσεις Στην Επιληψία

“…Σύμφωνα με τη ΜΙΝΙ το ποσοστό των ασθενών με επιληψία που είχαν Γενικευμένη Διαταραχή άγχους (ΓΔΑ) ήταν 42,9%, πολύ υψηλότερο από το 16,8% που υπολόγισαν οι Wiglusz et al 50 , το 22.8% των Tellez-Zenteno et al 121 και το 22,9% όπως προκύπτει από τη meta-analysis των Scott et al 122 , ενώ είναι πιο κοντά στο 40% που προτείνει ο Dworetzky 123 . Το μεγάλο ποσοστό των ασθενών με επιληψία που παρουσιάζουν και ΓΔΑ πιθανώς να σχετίζεται με την οικονομική κρίση στην Ελλάδα.…”

“…Πολύς λόγος το τελευταίο καιρό γίνεται στη βιβλιογραφία για τη συσχέτιση των παρενεργειών των αντιεπιληπτικών φαρμάκων με την κατάθλιψη [160][161][162][163] και το άγχος 123,160 .…”