Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in temporal lobe epilepsy in a Southern Brazilian population
A great prevalence of psychiatric disorders in epilepsy is well demonstrated, although most studies have used unstructured psychiatric interviews for diagnosis. Here we present a study evaluating the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in a cohort of Southern Brazilian patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using a structured clinical interview. We analyzed 166 patients with TLE regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms through the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. One hundred-six patients (63.9%) presented psychiatric comorbidities. Mood disorders were observed in 80 patients (48.2%), anxiety disorders in 51 patients (30.7%), psychotic disorders in 14 (8.4%), and substance abuse in 8 patients (4.8%) respectively. Our results agree with literature data where most authors detected mental disorders in 10 to 60% of epileptic patients. This wide variation is probably attributable to different patient groups investigated and to the great variety of diagnostic methods. Structured psychiatric interviews might contribute to a better evaluation of prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in TLE.
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO
2011
|
| Online Access: | http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2011000200003 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | A great prevalence of psychiatric disorders in epilepsy is well demonstrated, although most studies have used unstructured psychiatric interviews for diagnosis. Here we present a study evaluating the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in a cohort of Southern Brazilian patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using a structured clinical interview. We analyzed 166 patients with TLE regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms through the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. One hundred-six patients (63.9%) presented psychiatric comorbidities. Mood disorders were observed in 80 patients (48.2%), anxiety disorders in 51 patients (30.7%), psychotic disorders in 14 (8.4%), and substance abuse in 8 patients (4.8%) respectively. Our results agree with literature data where most authors detected mental disorders in 10 to 60% of epileptic patients. This wide variation is probably attributable to different patient groups investigated and to the great variety of diagnostic methods. Structured psychiatric interviews might contribute to a better evaluation of prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in TLE. |
|---|