title: Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in temporal lobe epilepsy in a Southern Brazilian population.
abstract: A great prevalence of psychiatric disorders in epilepsy is well demonstrated, although most studies have used unstructured psychiatric interviews for diagnosis. Here we present a study evaluating the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in a cohort of Southern Brazilian patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using a structured clinical interview. We analyzed 166 patients with TLE regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms through the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. One hundred-six patients (63.9%) presented psychiatric comorbidities. Mood disorders were observed in 80 patients (48.2%), anxiety disorders in 51 patients (30.7%), psychotic disorders in 14 (8.4%), and substance abuse in 8 patients (4.8%) respectively. Our results agree with literature data where most authors detected mental disorders in 10 to 60% of epileptic patients. This wide variation is probably attributable to different patient groups investigated and to the great variety of diagnostic methods. Structured psychiatric interviews might contribute to a better evaluation of prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in TLE.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. jbragatti@hcpa.ufrgs.br
authors.forename: José Augusto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bragatti
authors.forename: Carolina Machado
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Renata Gomes
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Londero
authors.forename: Kelin Cristine
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Ana Cláudia de
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Maria Paz Loayza
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Hidalgo
authors.forename: Márcia Lorena Fagundes
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.forename: Marino Muxfeldt
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bianchin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult