Saeed Akhtar, Ahmed Nawaz, Hajira Khan.
Prevalence of Depression in Epilepsy.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;16(4):881-4.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of depression among epileptic patients at tertiary care hospital at Bahawalpur. Material and Methods: This was a cross sectional study involving epileptic patients aged 18 years and above who were attending the psychiatry and medical outdoor of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital. Demographic data including age, gender, education, marital status and seizure type was obtained. For assessment of depression we used Hamilton Rating Scale for depression. The data was entered in SPSS version 16 and analyzed. Mild, moderate, sever and very severe types of depression were assessed in the form of frequencies. Results :Depression was diagnosed in 28% of the patients. Out of them 9 were females and 19 were males. In females depression was diagnosed in 25% of the patients and in males depression diagnosed in 29.68% of the patients of epilepsy. Depression was more common in age group of 18-35 years of age. There was no association found in epilepsy and depression. Conclusion: Depression is common in epileptic patients. If undiagnosed, it could significantly affect the quality of life of these patients. As effective treatment is available, there is need for clinicians treating epilepsy patients to routinely screen for depression.

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