Depression symptoms as a function of duration of intractable or controlled epilepsy

We examined if depression symptoms in patients with intractable (IE) or controlled epilepsy (CE) differ and how long after onset of epilepsy these effects would be most pronounced. The NDDI-E was administered to all outpatients (n = 358) seen in a comprehensive epilepsy program clinic over a two-year period. Patients who met inclusion criteria (n = 223) completed a total of 431 NDDI-E surveys over this time. Patients with a diagnosis of IE (n = 72) or CE (n = 151) were compared as a function of time since their epilepsy onset, segmented into 10-year epochs. Depression symptoms were higher in patients with IE compared to CE at 10-< 20 years and did not differ at other time points. This study reveals differences in depression symptoms as a function of duration of epilepsy. Attending to the dynamic nature of depression symptoms in different epochs of epilepsy may be an important treatment target in patients with epilepsy.

► Depression symptoms differ as a function of duration of epilepsy. ► Patients with intractable epilepsy have higher depression scores than patients with controlled epilepsy. ► Depression symptom scores do not differ at longer durations of epilepsy.