According to a study published in , adolescents with epilepsy (AWE) commonly experience emotional and behavioral problems. Epilepsy and behaviorParent factors included how they perceive how others treat their children.
With these findings, the study authors emphasized the importance of early identification and adequate management of these problems to reduce comorbid psychopathology in AWE.
A cross-sectional, multicenter study included 289 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years (180 boys and 109 girls) with a mean age (SD) of 15.4 (1.9) years.
The authors explained that psychopathology in this group was assessed using the Youth Self-Report Scale, which consisted of 8 narrow-band and 3 broad-band syndrome scales, and the raw scores and T-scores of each syndrome scale were analyzed. Did.
The study found that 18.3% with AWE had at least one emotional or behavioral problem in the clinical range.
Social problems were the most common (10.0%), followed by attention problems (6.9%), aggressive behavior (4.2%), and externalization problems (11.8%) followed by internalization problems (6.2%). It was double.
Problems of externalization include rule-breaking and aggressive behavior, and problems of internalization include withdrawal, physical dissatisfaction, and feelings of anxiety and depression.
Female participants and older AWE experienced higher levels of internalization problems, and social problems were more common in girls (15.6%) than in boys (6.7%). However, thinking problems were more common in boys (3.9%) than in girls (0%).
The study also included 225 mothers and 64 fathers with AWE who participated in the study.
These parental feelings of stigma were assessed using a modified 3-item epilepsy stigma scale and showed that 72 of 289 parents (24.9%) felt epilepsy-related stigma. rice field. Specifically, 32 people (11.1%) answered “yes” to item 1, 20 people (6.9%) to item 2, and 20 people (6.9%) to all three items.
Consistent with previous findings, this study found that 1 in 4 AWE parents treat their child as inferior, with others feeling uncomfortable with their child. , or said he recognizes that he prefers to avoid his own children due to epilepsy.
“Adolescents whose parents felt stigmatized had higher levels of all kinds of emotional and behavioral problems, with the exception of withdrawal and anxiety/depression, than adolescents whose parents did not feel stigmatized.” The authors further explained, “Specifically, these young people were more likely to have problems of externalization and social problems.
The authors found that parental perceptions of stigma were more related to parental psychosocial status, including factors such as depression, anxiety, economic status, educational level, and marital status, than epilepsy-related factors in children. said it is likely that
They also found that being male, polytherapy with antiepileptic drugs, and long duration of epilepsy are likely to be associated with perceptions of parental stigma, and that stigma is associated with AWE psychopathology, particularly We also found that it was significantly associated with externalization and social problems.
“Despite the high frequency and severity of psychopathology in AWE, these problems are often not recognized in the clinic,” the authors wrote. “Thus, early identification of risk for emotional and behavioral problems in AWE may allow more timely referrals for interventions, reduce comorbid psychopathology, and improve quality of life.” It is important.”
The authors noted that the lack of a control group, in addition to other factors surrounding the design of the study, should be taken into account when interpreting these results.
reference
Jin Young S, Lee SA, Eom S, Kim HD; Korean QoL in an epilepsy study group. Emotional and behavioral profiles of adolescents with epilepsy: associations with parental perceptions of epilepsy-related stigma. epileptic behavior2023;138:109014. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.109014
