Skargi na problemy z pamięcią i objawy depresji u pacjentów z epilepsją w momencie pierwszego napadu oraz rok później
Subjective memory complaints and depressive mood in patients with epilepsy at the time of first seizure and one year later
W skrócie
Badanie pokazuje, że pacjenci z epilepsją często narzekają na problemy z pamięcią, ale te skargi są bardziej związane z depresją niż z faktycznymi zaburzeniami pamięci. Naukowcy przebadali dwie grupy pacjentów - z diagnozą epilepsji i tych, którzy mieli pierwszy napad, ale nie dostali diagnozy epilepsji, obserwując ich przez rok od pierwszego napadu. Wyniki wskazują, że objawy depresji są głównym czynnikiem wpływającym na skargi pamięciowe u obu grup, dlatego lekarze powinni uważnie monitorować depresję zarówno u nowych, jak i u długoletych pacjentów z epilepsją.
Oryginalny abstract (angielski)
Patients with epilepsy (PWE) often report subjective memory complaints (SMC) that reportedly do not thoroughly relate to 'objective' memory measures, but to depressive symptoms. While depressive symptoms appear to be involved very early in the disease, it is relatively unclear when SMC develop over the course of the illness. We examined two patient groups, namely PWE and patients, who had a first seizure (seizure patients, SP), but did not subsequently get the diagnosis epilepsy regarding factors influencing SMC scores at the time of the first seizure as well as one year later using regression analyses. These factors include a depressive symptom score, demographic and clinical variables. Additionally, we investigate the development of SMC and depressive symptoms over the time span of the first year after first seizure in both patient groups using analyses of variance (ANOVA). Regression analyses results revealed that depressive symptoms predicted subjective memory complaints at both time points. Group, based on diagnosed illness, did not predict an additional significant amount of variance. ANOVA results regarding SMC scores revealed that there were no systematic differences between patient groups and no significant development throughout the first year after first seizure. Results on depressive symptoms showed that PWE reported overall more depressive symptoms than SP. These findings hint towards the importance of monitoring depressive symptoms in epilepsy not only in patients who have had epilepsy for a long time, but also in newly diagnosed patients. Future studies are needed to investigate the beginning of SMC in epilepsy.