A Registration Study on Depression in Patients With Epilepsy

As the treatment rate for depression in epilepsy is unclear and the discordant voice of choosing antidepressants for most doctors, this prospective observational cohort study was designed to better understand the current situation of drug treatments in patients with the comorbidity of epilepsy and depression in East China. The secondary outcome was to investigate whether baseline depressive symptoms had an influence on seizure-control in patients with epilepsy at follow-up.

The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) age 18-75, no gender limited; (2) diagnosis of epilepsy according to the definition by ILAE in 2014; (3) the score of 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale greater than 7; (4) Obtaining informed consent of participants. The exclusion criteria were any of the following: (1) having psychiatric symptoms such as hallucination or delusion; (2) progressive neurological diseases and malignant tumors; (3) severe cognitive dysfunction (the score of MMSE less than 10).