STUDY ON PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION AND ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS AMONG SOUTH INDIAN EPILEPTIC PATIENTS

Objectives: To compare the prevalence and intensity of adverse drug reactions (ADR) in patients receiving antiepileptic monotherapy and polytherapy,and to assess the pattern of depression associated with the therapy.Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in neurology outpatient department for a time period of 6 months in a tertiary carehospital, South India. Patients diagnosed as epileptic for more than 6 months and receiving stable doses of antiepileptic drugs (AED) for 3 monthswere included in the study. Study participants receiving monotherapy and polytherapy were divided into groups. A detailed validated questionnairewas used to assess the incidence and severity of depression and ADRs among the study participants. Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis test, andWilcoxon signed rank test were used to know the statistical significance at p<0.05.Results: Among 91 patients with epilepsy, depression was observed mainly in the study group receiving polytherapy than monotherapy. The severityof ADR observed among various study groups during the first and second visit were compared, which showed that all range of intensity scores werereported. During the second visit, the severity of ADR was high when compared to the first visit. Further incidence of ADRs with AED therapy wascompared which showed clinically significant values in all ADRs reported in both monotherapy and polytherapy.Conclusion: Our study showed, maximum ADRs were among the patients receiving polytherapy, and depression was observed in patients receivingpolytherapy. This suggests the need for safe drug practice.Keywords: Epilepsy, Anti-epileptics, Adverse drug reactions, Depression, Monotherapy, Polytherapy.Â