title: Depression and Anxiety among Patients with Epilepsy and Multiple Sclerosis: UAE Comparative Study.
abstract: Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in patients with epilepsy (PWE), with prevalence rates ranging from 20% to 55%. The cause of this increased rate is multifactorial. Depression and epilepsy are thought to share the same pathogenic mechanism. Anxiety, on the other hand, seems to have a prevalence rate among PWE comparable to, or even higher than, those reported for depression, and it is closely linked to epilepsy. To test this hypothesis, we screened for depression and anxiety 186 and 160 patients attending the epilepsy and MS clinics, respectively, using standardized screening tools to determine the rates of both depression and anxiety, comparing these rates to 186 age, sex matched controls. Among the three groups, only patients with epilepsy were at increased risk of having depression (OR = 1.9), whereas anxiety was not. This finding could point to the shared pathogenic mechanisms hypothesis between depression and epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Taoufik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alsaadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Khadija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: El Hammasi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Tarek M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Shahrour
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shakra
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Lamya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turkawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Wassim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nasreddine
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi 51900, UAE.
authors.forename: Mufeed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raoof
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012306:Risk; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult