Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this review was to investigate the prevalence of depression in people with epilepsy (PWE) in different countries in Asia.
Methods We searched the electronic database PubMed on June 13, 2017 for articles in English that included the following search terms: “epilepsy” AND “depression” AND “country name” for all Asian countries since 1947. Relevant original studies from Asia were included if they reported the prevalence of depression in PWE. Papers studying special populations (e.g., elderly, veterans, etc.) were not included. In addition, experts in epilepsy field were invited from some Asian countries for an in-depth assessment.
Results Six hundred eighty-seven papers were reviewed and 26 related studies were included in this study. Depression is highly prevalent in PWE in different countries in Asia and the prevalence rates are consistent with rates reported in the literature from other countries: overall, about 25% of PWE suffer from depression.
Conclusion In Asian countries, as elsewhere, depression is common in PWE. High quality data is scarce in many countries and validated screening tools [e.g., Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E)] to appropriately investigate the prevalence of depression in PWE are still lacking in many languages. Considering the high prevalence of depression among PWE, routine and periodic screening of all PWE for early detection and appropriate management of depression would be a reasonable approach.
1. Introduction
Depression has been observed to be highly prevalent in people with epilepsy (PWE). A systematic review and meta-analysis of its prevalence, revealed a 23.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 20.6%– 28.31%) [1] prevalence of active depression which is much higher than that in the general population. In a population-based study [2], the average lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates of major depressive episodes were 14.6% and 5.5%, respectively in the 10 highest-income countries, and 11.1% and 5.9% in the eight countries with low- to middle-income. However, depression is often under-recognized and improperly treated in PWE, which is associated with work absenteeism, increased utilization of health care services and direct medical costs [3,4].
