title: Aggressive behavior and epilepsy: a multicenter study.
abstract: The aim of this study is to describe aggressiveness in the epilepsy population and to identify possible relationships between this type of behavior and clinical and sociodemographic variables. Aggressive responses were measured by the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), a standardized and validated instrument, which was administered to 503 patients from nine Italian centers for the care of epilepsy. Aggressive behavior in patients with epilepsy was different from that in the normal Italian population. After adjustment for age and sex, when appropriate, the following variables significantly affected aggressiveness: presence of compromised intellectual functioning, psychiatric disturbances, disability status, number of medications, geographic distribution, education, chronologic age, and disease duration. Our study offers a starting point for further investigations aimed at better understanding the mechanisms connecting aggression and epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Center, Neurology II, St. Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy. ada.piazzini1@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ada
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piazzini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bravi
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Edefonti
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Aglaia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vignoli
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferraroni
authors.forename: Maria Paola
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Canevini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003710:Demography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires