ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Pediatrica 2017 February;69(1):1-14

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4946.16.04163-3

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Psychopathology, quality of life and risk factors in children and adolescents with recent-onset epilepsy

Michela GATTA ¹, Laura BALOTTIN ², Ambra SALMASO ¹, Manuela STUCCHI ¹, Debora DE CARLO ¹, Elisa GUARNERI ¹, Stefania MANNARINI ², Marilena VECCHI ³, Clementina BONIVER ³, Pier A. BATTISTELLA ¹ ✉

¹ Childhood, Adolescence and Family Unit, ULSS 16 and Department of Woman’s and Child’s Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; ² Interdepartmental Center for Family Research, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, Section of Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; ³ Pediatric Neurophysiology Unit, Department of Woman’s and Child’s Health, University Hospital of Padua, Padua, Italy

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to describe the distribution, timing, and risk factors for psychopathology and to further examine the quality of life (QoL) in an Italian sample of children with recent onset epilepsy. Sociodemographic and psychosocial variables, family factors, as well as illness-related factors themselves were examined in order to clarify the relationship among these variables, psychopathology and QoL.
METHODS: For this purpose, 49 children and adolescents (4-18 years), consecutively referred to a Neurophysiology Service, were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team using dimensional as well as categorical instruments both self-administered (self-report and proxy-report) and interviewer administered.
RESULTS: Forty-five percent of the patients exhibited one or more Axis I disorders (DSM-IV) when evaluated with K-SADS-PL interview. It’s worth noting that preadolescent and adolescent patients tend to underestimate their problems compared to their parents’opinion, when answering self-administer questionnaires. Self-reported QoL appeared to be generally satisfactory. Social and family factor, as well as epilepsy related factors appeared to be linked both to the presence of psychopathology and to the QoL. Patients affected by psychiatric disorders exhibited the poorest QoL.
CONCLUSIONS: Also after many years from the onset, childhood epilepsy frequently fosters negative consequences in terms of social life, work, psychopathology and life expectancy. The ability of health services and public health measures to prevent and treat psychiatric comorbidity may have a pivotal role in enhancing patients’ QoL.

KEY WORDS: Epilepsy - Child - Adolescent - Psychopathology - Quality of life