Prevalence and factors associated with depression in women living with epilepsy

Background: Female gender has been described as a major risk factor for depression, thus, a double problem for women with epilepsy (WWE) because the higher likelihood of developing depression. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression and the factors that contribute to it, as well as to compare clinical characteristics between depressed and non-depressed WWE.

Methods: This study was designed as a case control study involving one hundred (100) WWE and fifty (50) healthy controls aged 16 years and above. Zung Self-Reported Depressive Scale (ZSRDS) was used to assess the mood, while cognitive status was assessed using the Cognitive Screening Instrument for Dementia (CSID).

Results: The mean age of patients and mean age of onset of depression were 29.07±7.55 and 20.01±11.57 respectively. There was a significant difference between the Carbamazepine (CAR) and Levetiracetam (LVC) groups with regards to the mean score of total CSID score (p0.000) and its sub domains which are Language (p0.012), Memory (p0.000), Orientation (p0.035), and Attention and Calculation (p0.000). There was a statistical significant difference between depressed and not depressed groups with regards to memory (p0.000), orientation (p0.003), attention and calculation (p0.000) and total CSID (p0.000). There was a statistically significant difference between mean ZSRDS of participant with focal, generalized and no epileptiform pattern (p0.003). However, only attention and calculation predict depression (p0.010)

Conclusion: The mean ZSDRDS score was higher among those women with epilepsy compared to controls. Furthermore, the mean ZDRDS score was higher in carbamazepine compared to levetiracetam group.