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Depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with epilepsy and primary headache: a cross-sectional observational

Grazia Maria Giovanna Pastorino1, Miriam Olivieri1, Andrea Viggiano2

  • 1Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.

Frontiers in Neurology
|July 10, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Children with epilepsy have higher rates of depressive symptoms and parental stress. Comorbid primary headache exacerbates these symptoms, impacting quality of life.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Child Psychology
  • Neuropsychiatry

Background:

  • Epilepsy is associated with increased risk of mental health issues in children.
  • Comorbid conditions like primary headache may further influence psychological well-being.
  • Parental stress is a significant factor in managing chronic childhood conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with epilepsy compared to controls.
  • To investigate differences in depressive symptoms between epilepsy-only and epilepsy with comorbid primary headache groups.
  • To assess parental stress levels in these pediatric populations.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional observational study design.
  • Recruitment of 68 pediatric patients (aged 6-18) with epilepsy (with or without headache) and 50 controls.
  • Assessment using Children's Depression Inventory, Second Edition (CDI-2) and Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF).

Main Results:

  • Children with epilepsy exhibited significantly higher depressive symptoms and parental stress than controls.
  • Patients with comorbid epilepsy and primary headache reported more depressive symptoms than those with epilepsy alone.
  • Elevated parental stress was observed in families of children with epilepsy.

Conclusions:

  • Depressive symptoms are more common in pediatric patients with comorbid epilepsy and primary headache.
  • Further research into the underlying neurological and psychological mechanisms is warranted.
  • The co-occurrence of epilepsy, headache, and depression negatively affects patient quality of life and increases family stress.
Abstract

Keywords:
CDI-2adolescentschildrendepressive symptomsepilepsyparental stressprimary headache

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