Abstracts

Rationale: Symptoms of anxiety and depression are frequently observed in patients with epilepsy (PWE), compared to the general population. In addition, there is currently an interest to investigate the negative impact of adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs on the mood of the patients. However, few studies have evaluated these symptoms in caregivers of PWE. Methods: We evaluated 598 subjects with questionnaires for evaluation of anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory) and depression symptoms (Beck Depression Symptoms) in PWE with focal / unknown epilepsy (FUE; N = 329 [184 women], median age 43), genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE; N = 68 [44 women], median age 34.5), and caregivers of PWE (N = 201 [147 women], median age 47). Depression and Anxiety symptoms were considered positive for BDI/BAI scores higher than 14. Patients with epilepsy also answered the Liverpool Adverse Events Profile (LAEP). For statistical analysis, we used SPSS and applied chi-square tests for categorical comparisons (with post-hoc analysis) and the partial correlation between LAEP and BAI/BDI scores (controlled for age). Results: Depressive symptoms were more frequent in the FUE group (38%) compared to caregivers and GE groups (28%) (p=0.047). However, anxiety symptoms were similarly observed in the three groups (p=0.8) (Figure 1 A and B).Although symptoms of depression were more frequent in women (Figure 1C), significant differences occurred exclusively in the GGE (p=0.04). On the contrary, anxiety symptoms were significantly more frequent in women in both caregivers (p=0.001) and FUE (p=0.014), but not in the GGE (p=0.08) (Figure 1D). Significant correlations between LAEP and BAI (R=0.502, p<0.001) and BDI (r=0.315, p<0.001) (Figure 2 A and B). Conclusions: As expected, we identified a higher frequency of depression in PWE, with both focal/unknown and generalized seizures. However, caregivers also presented an elevated frequency of depressive symptoms, similar to GGE patients, illustrating the negative impact of epilepsy on subjects (without epilepsy) closely involved with PWE. The comparable rate of Anxiety symptoms in the three groups reinforces the need for specific attention (and treatment) not only for patients but also for their caregivers. Although several studies have demonstrated the need for care for anxiety and depression in PWE, our results suggest that detection and treatment are equally necessary for their caregivers. Funding: No funding