Prevalence and determinants of anxiety in patients with epilepsy during COVID-19 pandemic.

Autor: Sehlo MG; Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, P.O. Box 44519, Zagazig, Egypt., Mohamed WS; Neurology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt., Youssef UM; Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, P.O. Box 44519, Zagazig, Egypt., Lotfi SE; Neuropsychiatry Resident at Abbaseya Hospital for Mental Illness, Cairo, Egypt., El-Deen GMS; Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, P.O. Box 44519, Zagazig, Egypt.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Egyptian journal of neurology, psychiatry and neurosurgery [Egypt J Neurol Psychiatr Neurosurg] 2022; Vol. 58 (1), pp. 78. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jun 23.
DOI: 10.1186/s41983-022-00513-6
Abstrakt: Background: Epilepsy is one of the most frequent and serious brain disorders. The nature of the disorder and the unpredictability of seizures usually puts patients in a state of apprehension and anticipation, which creates a continuous condition of anxiety. COVID-19 pandemic has created a state of generalized anxiety all over the world. It is expected that patients with epilepsy (PWE) will suffer from more anxiety during the pandemic. This cross-sectional study was applied on 290 PWE. Data were collected by personal interview with each patient using GAD-7 scale for diagnosing anxiety and assessing its severity. We aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety and to assess its risk factors in PWE during COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: We found that 52.4% of PWE suffered from anxiety. Not working, low financial status, fear of infection and death by COVID-19, fear of job loss, had job changes during pandemic, increased seizures rate during pandemic, increased ER visits, and lack of drug adherence during the pandemic, are significantly associated with increased risk of anxiety.
Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic has a serious effect on the psychological and the physical wellbeing of PWE. There was an increased rate of anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in PWE with its subsequent burden on those patients. So, these patients are in a high need of care and support during the pandemic.
Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.
(© The Author(s) 2022.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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