The relationship between clinical features of adult epilepsy patients and attention deficit hyperactivity levels

Although the incidence of epilepsy is high in children and adolescents, it is a neurological disorder with an increasing prevalence in adults. It is seen quite frequently with psychiatric disorders and ADHD in childhood and adolescence. ADHD lifetime burden and cognitive side effects of antiepileptic drugs suggest that ADHD can be seen in adult epilepsy patients. In this study, it was aimed to examine the attention deficit and hyperactivity levels and the variables associated with attention deficit hyperactivity levels in Adult Epilepsy Outpatients. This is a cross-sectional study conducted with outpatient epilepsy patients in the Adult Epilepsy Outpatient Clinic of the Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine, Balcalı Hospital, Department of Neurology. The research sample consisted of a total of 136 individuals, 68 adults with epilepsy and 68 healthy control group matched for age and gender. Data were collected from the participants using the Sociodemographic Information Form, the Wender-Utah Rating Scale, the Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Patients with epilepsy were 7.8 times more likely to have ADHD compared to the control group, patients with focal seizures had higher ADHD levels than those with generalized seizures, those who had more than one seizure in the last month had higher ADHD levels than those who had one or less seizures in the past month. It was found that there is a relationship between the level of adult ADHD and the level of adult ADHD.