Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39231908›Full record

ArticleActa neurologica Belgica2025

Clinical and sociodemographic predictors of depressive symptoms in epilepsy patients in a single tertiary epilepsy center.

Dragica Hajder, Slobodan Sekulić, Vojislava Bugarski Ignjatović, Sanela Popović, Nemanja Popović, Željka Nikolašević, Ksenija Gebauer Bukurov

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Article in Acta neurologica Belgica, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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7 authors.

Dragica HajderClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia. dragicadobrenov@gmail.com.
Slobodan SekulićClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.
Vojislava Bugarski IgnjatovićClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.
Sanela PopovićClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.
Nemanja PopovićClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.
Željka NikolaševićFaculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 3 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.
Ksenija Gebauer BukurovClinic of Neurology, University Clinical Center Vojvodina, 1 Hajduk Veljkova St, Novi Sad, 21 000, Serbia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the frequency of depressive symptoms in patients with epilepsy (PWE) in a tertiary epilepsy center and to analyse possible predictors of depression in several domains, including clinical characteristics of epilepsy and sociodemographic factors.

methodsPWE patients who visited our epilepsy clinic during the 6th month in 2020 and 2021 were enrolled in our study. To collect the data, structured scales were created for the clinical characteristics of the disease and for the sociodemographic data. All participants completed the Back Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression were also conducted to identify the factors associated with depressive symptoms in PWE.

resultsA total of 131 PWE were recruited for this study. It was determined that depressive symptoms were present in 51.1% of PWE. Of these, 49.25% manifested severe depressive symptoms. Approximately 18% of PWE use antidepressant medications, which is significantly less than that of PWE who are currently depressed. Univariate regression analysis revealed that female sex (p = 0.013), severe seizure frequency in the past year (p = 0.001), the use of the antiseizure medication polytherapy (p = 0.018), the presence of side effects of antiseizure medications (p = 0.001), a history of febrile seizures (p = 0.015), focal impaired awareness seizures (p = 0,051), and a combination of focal aware seizures with focal impaired awareness seizures combined with bilateral tonic‒clonic seizures (p = 0,006) may be associated with depressive symptoms in PWE patients. Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that side effects of antiseizure medications (OR = 3.01; 95% CI = 1.09-8.32), history of febrile seizures (OR = 3.75; 95% CI = 1.07-13.11), female sex (OR = 2.16; 95% CI = 0.984-4.73), and combination of focal aware seizures to focal impaired awareness seizures to bilateral tonic‒clonic seizures (OR = 7.32; 95% CI = 0.830-64.59) were unique, independent predictors of depressive symptoms in patients with epilepsy.

conclusionDepressive symptoms in PWE are frequent, severe, undiagnosed, and mostly untreated. The side effects of antiseizure medications, history of febrile seizures, female sex, and combination of focal awareness seizures and focal impaired awareness seizures combined with bilateral tonic‒clonic seizures are unique, independent predictors of depressive symptoms in PWE.

Indexed as

DepressionEpilepsyAdultAnticonvulsantsCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSociodemographic FactorsTertiary Care CentersYoung AdultAnticonvulsantsDepressionEpilepsyRisk factors

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PMID39231908

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