The effect of anxiety status on the frequency of seizures in the parents of epilepsy child patients

Background and Aims: Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological disease in the pediatric age group characterized by recurrent seizures. Seizures are the main symptoms of the disease and are one of the main factors determining the success of epilepsy treatment. Our aim in this study is to evaluate the frequency of anxiety disorders in the parents of children with epilepsy and the effects of this anxiety disorder on their children's epilepsy treatment. Methods:Patients who applied to our hospital's pediatric neurology outpatient clinic, aged between 1 and 18 years and followed up with a diagnosis of epilepsy for at least 6 months were included in the study group.The epidemiological characteristics of the patients, physical examination findings, epilepsy type, EEG findings, radiologicalfindings, drugsused, initial seizure frequency and current seizure frequency were retrospective valuated and recorded.The beck anxiety scale form was filled in after their consent was obtained at the time of admission to screen psychopathology in the parents. Results:In our study, 54.2% of our patients were female, 45.8% male, and the meanage was 8.46 ± 4.41year,and the mean duration of epilepsy was 3.81 ± 3.51year. According to the Beck anxiety scale results, the anxiety rate in the parents was 69%. There was no significant relationship between the anxiety level of the parents and the frequency of seizures (p = 0.475). Conclusions: In our study, it was found that the anxiety level of the parents of children diagnosed with epilepsy was higher than the normal population and the mothers had more anxiety disorders than fathers. In the treatment management of a pediatric patient with epilepsy, we believe that psychological support of parents with epileptic children and not neglecting the effect of this situation on the management of cases would be both a more successful and a more economical treatment approach. Keywords:Anxiety,parents,epilepsy