Research view
Title: | Depression among school aged epileptic children and their siblings |
Author: | Marwa Abd El-Maksoud, Hamdy Bedair, Hanan Azouz, Heba Abou El-Wafa |
Abstract: |
Introduction
Researches on children and adolescents with epilepsy have revealed a high incidence of
psychological and behavioral difficulties. For a longtime, patients and physicians tended to
focus solely on the control of epileptic seizures, while disregarding the presence of comorbid
psychiatric symptoms and disorders. Recognition of their negative impact in the life of patients
with epilepsy in recent years has highlighted the need for the early identification of psychiatric
symptoms.
Aim of the work
The work aimed to study the prevalence of depression in school aged epileptic children and
their siblings and to study the possible risk factors of depressive disorders in those children
with epilepsy and their siblings.
Patients and methods
The study included 150 school children divided into three groups: epileptic children, their
siblings, and a healthy control group. They have been all subjected to history taking, neurological
examination, psychiatric interview, electroencephalography, and psychometric assessment
using Children’s Depression Inventory, Arabic form.
Results
We found a significant relationship between the prevalence of depression and focal seizures
(P < 0.001) especially frontal and temporal lobe epilepsy; however, we did not find a statistically
significant relationship between depression and other seizures related risk factors. There was
a significantly (P = 0.002) poor school performance among epileptic children (42%) compared
with their siblings (16%) and the control children (12%), and also there was a significant
relationship between poor school performance in epileptic children and high prevalence of
depression (P = 0.025) among these children.
Conclusion
There is no great impact of epilepsy on the social or psychological life of the siblings especially
among young children. Despite the high prevalence of depression among young epileptic
children, it was not statistically significant compared with the control children. Moreover, there
is a significant relationship between focal seizures and depression especially temporal and
frontal lobe epilepsy. Depression as a comorbidity in epileptic children further compromises
their school performance.
Keywords:
anxiety, depression, epilepsy, psychiatric, school performance, seizure
|
Journal: | Egyptian Journal of Psychiatry 2015, 36:124–131 |
Text: | |
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