Influence of Epilepsy Characteristics on the Anxiety Occurrence

• Published in: Brain sciences 2024-09, Vol.14 (9), p.858
• Main Authors: Gavrilovic, Aleksandar, Gavrilovic, Jagoda, Ilic Zivojinovic, Jelena, Jeličić, Ljiljana, Radovanovic, Snezana, Vesic, Katarina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Comorbidity; Convulsions & seizures; Differential diagnosis; Drug resistance; drug responsivity; drug sensitivity; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy; Ethics; Medical treatment; Mental disorders; Pathophysiology; Patients; Psychological assessment; Quality of life; seizure; Seizures; Seizures (Medicine); Sociodemographics
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14090858

The presence of anxiety in individuals with epilepsy significantly influences their medical treatment and quality of life and often goes unrecognized or untreated, posing a challenge to differential diagnosis. The study aimed to investigate the influence of epilepsy characteristics on anxiety. The research involved 155 patients with generalized and focal drug-sensitive [DSE] and drug-resistant [DRE] epilepsy. Hamilton anxiety rating scale [HAS] was used to assess the symptoms of anxiety at three time points [baseline, 12, and 18 months]. DSE patients exhibited significantly lower HAM-A scores than patients with DRE at the initial visit [ = 0.000] after 12 [ = 0.000] and 18-month follow-up [ = 0.000]. Focal DRE patients presented higher HAM-A scores than focal DSE patients in the initial visit [ = 0.000] after 12 [ = 0.000] and 18 months [ = 0.000]. Medication responsiveness, seizure type, and illness duration emerged as significant anxiety predictors [ = 0.000]. After 18 months of follow-up, significant contributors to anxiety were drug responsivity and illness duration [ = 0.000]. The occurrence of anxiety in epilepsy patients is most significantly influenced by well-controlled epilepsy and a positive response to medication.