DEPRESSION IN PRIMARY EPILEPSY PATIENTS UNDER TREATMENT AT BOLAN MEDICAL COLLEGE/HOSPITAL, QUETTA

Abstract

Objective: To find out the prevalence and severity of depression among the patients with Primary epilepsy treated at Bolan Medical College/Quetta Hospital. Study Design and Setting: Descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at the Department of Neurology, Bolan Medical College/Hospital. Methodology: This study was conducted after the approval of the CPSP (CPSP/REU/NEU-2022-001-768). Patients were recruited by non-probability convenience sampling and 185 patients between the ages of 18 and 65 years were enrolled who met the inclusion criteria of having confirmed primary epilepsy of at least one-year duration. Secondary epilepsy, prior psychiatric disease or recent use of psychiatric drugs were exclusion criteria. A structured proforma was used to collect data and the severity of depression was evaluated by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The data was analyzed using SPSS version 26. A p-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 112(60.5%) patients were diagnosed with depression. Thirty-eight (20.5%) participants were depressed, 34 (18.4%) participants were moderately depressed, 24 (13.0%) participants were severely depressed and 16 (8.6%) participants were very severely depressed. Low socioeconomic status, rural living, generalized epilepsy and duration of illness for >5 years were significantly associated with depression (p=0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). Conclusion: Depression is a very common psychiatric co-morbidity in patients with primary epilepsy. These patients' treatment adherence, seizure control and quality of life may benefit from routine screening and early psychiatric treatment.