Psychiatric morbidity and its impact on quality of life in patients with epilepsy: A cross-sectional study

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence psychiatric comorbidities by using a structured diagnostic instrument and it impact on quality of life among patients with idiopathic epilepsy. Methodology: Using a cross-sectional study design, 120 patients with idiopathic epilepsy were assessed for psychiatric morbidity by using MiniInternational Psychiatric Interview-PLUS version for psychiatric morbidity and Quality of life in Epilepsy-31 scale. In addition, all the patients were also assessed on Beck Depression Inventory-II and generalized anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7) to rate the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Results: The present study showed that the prevalence of current and lifetime psychiatric diagnosis as per Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-PLUS is 68.3% and 75%, respectively. Among various psychiatric disorders, depressive disorders were the most common (54.16%), followed by GAD (8.3%). In terms of severity of depressive symptoms, 10.8% patients had mild depression, 25.8% moderate depression, and 14.2% had severe depression. On GAD-7, 28.3% were found to have mild, 15% had moderate and 15.8% had severe anxiety. Psychiatric morbidity both current and lifetime was associated with poorer quality of life in all the domains. Conclusion: Psychiatric morbidity is highly prevalent in patients with epilepsy and it has significant negative impact on the quality of life. These findings suggest that there is a need for close liaison between the psychiatrist and the neurologist to address psychiatric issues among patients with epilepsy.