title: Aggressive behaviour at a residential epilepsy centre.
abstract: There is an extensive literature on epilepsy and violence, but no study has addressed aggression (i.e. apparently intentional violence) in a residential-care population. We performed a retrospective study at the Chalfont Centre for Epilepsy (a residential-care facility in rural Buckinghamshire) in order to determine the frequency and character of episodes of aggression. This allowed us to identify a group of aggressive subjects who were compared with age- and sex-matched control subjects drawn from the remaining residents. We found the prevalence of aggression to be 27.2% in 1 year amongst long-term residents. The overall frequency was estimated at between 121 and 207 incidents per 100 persons per year. A few incidents (0.7%) were related to an acute psychosis but they were more likely to result in significant injury. Offenders were younger than non-aggressive residents. Gender, age of onset of epilepsy, history of psychosis, mobility, abnormality on MRI scan, learning disability and seizure frequency were not associated with aggressive conduct.
authors.affiliation: The National Hospital for Neurology, National Society for Epilepsy, Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, SL9 0RJ, UK.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bogdanovic
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mead
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Duncan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011618:Psychotic Disorders; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*