Neurological Institute Outcomes
Epilepsy
Adult Epilepsy: Effect of Treatment on Mood
2008 - 2021
Mood disorders, especially depression, are common in patients with epilepsy. The Epilepsy Center routinely screens for depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to identify and treat depression as soon as possible, using primary care depression treatment guidelines.¹ Early identification and treatment should result in improvement in patients’ care, given the significant effect of depression on quality of life.
Change in Depressive Symptoms in Adult Epilepsy Patients
2008 – 2021
For patients with at least moderate depressive symptoms (defined as PHQ-9 scores ≥ 10), a clinically meaningful improvement was seen in 57% of the medical group and 58% of the surgical group.
Clinically meaningful change was defined as a total point change of ≥ 5 points.¹
Mean duration of follow-up was 1745 days (range, 180-5043) in the medical group and 1148 days (range, 181-4432) in the surgical group.
Change in Global Mental Health in Adult Epilepsy Patients
2013 – 2021
Medical Patients (N = 3170)
7722 medically treated patients had at least 2 visits with PROMIS-10 Mental Health data available for analysis. Among those patients whose baseline PROMIS-10 Mental Health score ≤ 45 (N = 3170), 31.6% (N = 1001) showed improvement, 54% (N = 1713) remained stable, and 14.4% (N = 456) worsened. Median duration of follow-up was 1074 days (range, 180-2608).
Surgical Patients (N = 93)
163 surgical patients had a presurgery visit and postsurgery visit with PROMIS-10 Mental Health data available for analysis. Among those patients whose baseline PROMIS-10 Mental Health score ≤ 45 (N = 93), 38.7% (N = 36) showed improvement, 43% (N = 40) remained stable, and 18.3% (N = 17) worsened. Median duration of follow-up was 770 days (range, 188-1876). Clinically meaningful change was defined as a 5-point change in T-score, based on one-half the standard deviation.²
