Evaluation of the relationship of depression-anxiety and disability in patients between 18-65 years WHO presented to the emergency department with epileptic seizure

Epilepsy may cause depression, anxiety and disability. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association between depression-anxiety and disability in patients presenting to our emergency department with epileptic seizures. This study was conducted in Pamukkale University emergency department. Patients aged 18-65 years who presented to the emergency department with epileptic seizures were included in the study. The study included 110 volunteers diagnosed with epilepsy in the patient group and 120 volunteers in the control group. 14-question Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and 11-question Brief Disability Questionnaire (BDQ) were used to investigate the psychiatric comorbidities of the patients. There were 58 male patients (52.7%) and 52 female patients (47.3%) in the patient group. The meanage of the individual sincluded in the patient group was 29.10±9.46 years and the meanage of the individual sincluded in the control group was 29.83±8.66 years. These values were in a similar range. Among the patients diagnosed with epilepsy, primary school graduates, with 8 patients (7.31%) were the smallest group and high school graduates, with 56 patients (50.9%) were the biggest group. Among the volunteers in the control group, secondary school graduates, with 2 patients (1.7%), were the smallest group and high school graduation with 80 patients (66.7%) were the biggest group (p=0.0001). Among the patients diagnosed with epilepsy, the smallest group that has 1 patient (0.9%) had an income 3 times the minimum wage and above, while the biggest group that has 55 patients (50.5%) had an income of minimum wage and below (p=0.0001). While 20 (18.2%) of the patients who came to the emergency department with epilepsy seizure were not using regular medication, 90 patients (81.8%) were using at least 1 antiepileptic drug regularly. The shortest and the longest history of epilepsy diagnosis was 1 year and 45 years, respectively, and the mean duration of diagnosis was 8.43 years. While 68.1% of the patients regularly used 1 antiepileptic drug, one patient was using 3 and one patient was using 4 different antiepileptic drugs. Among patients with epilepsy, 8 patients (7.3%) who had an epilepsy attack in less than 1 week were the group with least people and the majority of the patients (48.2%) had reported an epilepsy attack in the last 1 year. The mean value of anxiety scores was 8.81 in the patient group with epilepsy and 6.40 in the control group and there was statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.0001). The mean value of depression scores was 7.03 in the patient group with epilepsy and 5.43 in the control group and there was a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.0001). The patient group with epilepsy had a mean disability score of 6.81, while the control group had a mean score of 4.58. There was statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.0001). We found that depression and anxiety scores in the patient group were statistically significantly higher than the control group. In emergency department visits for after epileptic seizures, we found that depression and anxiety scores in the patient group were statistically significantly higher than the control group. We suggest that in the treatment planning of patients present in the emergency department with epilepsy attacks, psychiatric evaluation should be performed in addition to neurological consultation.