Psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior in neurotypical young adults with childhood-onset epilepsy.
OBJECTIVES
We examined the associations of lifetime and current histories of psychiatric disorders and of suicidal thoughts and behaviors with childhood-onset epilepsies in a community-based cohort of young adults.


METHODS
Cases were neurotypical (normal neurologic, cognitive, and imaging examinations and no evidence of a brain insult responsible for the epilepsy) young adults with childhood-onset epilepsy followed since the onset of their epilepsy approximately 15 years earlier and recruited as part of a community-based study. They were compared to two different control groups: siblings and external controls from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (NCS-R). The Diagnostic Interview Survey assessed lifetime and current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) diagnoses of mood disorders and anxiety disorders. Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Survey for Children-IV and the Diagnostic Interview Survey (DIS-IV).


RESULTS
Two hundred fifty-seven cases and 134 sibling controls participated in the DIS-IV portion of the young adult assessment. Comparing cases both to their sibling controls and to the controls drawn from the NCS-R, we did not find any evidence to suggest a higher prevalence of lifetime and current mood or anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempt in young adults with childhood-onset epilepsies.


SIGNIFICANCE
Our findings from a community-based sample of neurotypical young adults do not suggest a substantial or lasting association between childhood epilepsy and psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior.
['Baldin|Elisa|E|', 'Hesdorffer|Dale C|DC|', 'Caplan|Rochelle|R|', 'Berg|Anne T|AT|']
D000328:Adult D017668:Age of Onset D003072:Cognition Disorders D015331:Cohort Studies D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders D004827:Epilepsy D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D015999:Multivariate Analysis D009422:Nervous System Diseases D009460:Neurologic Examination D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales D011618:Psychotic Disorders D012111:Residence Characteristics D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric D013406:Suicide, Attempted D055815:Young Adult
Psychiatric disorders Epilepsy Case-control study