Abstracts

Rationale: Children with epilepsy have more frequent emotional and behavioral problems compared to healthy peers and children with other medical conditions. As part of a prospective investigation of children with recent onset epilepsy (<12 months since diagnosis), the prevalence of anxiety disorders was examined at baseline and two-year follow-up. The purpose of this study was to predict the trajectory of anxiety disorders in children with recent onset epilepsy. Methods: Participants were 75 children with recent onset epilepsy and 62 healthy cousin controls with a mean age of 12 years. All participants aged 8-18 years and their parents underwent a standardized psychiatric interview (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia [K-SADS]) to identify any lifetime or current psychiatric disorders. Children were re-evaluated following a 2-year interval. Additionally, all participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation at both time points. Data were analyzed using t-tests and chi-squares in order to identify predictors of anxiety disorders from baseline to follow-up. Results: Anxiety disorders were elevated at baseline compared to controls but the difference was not significant (24% v. 11%, p=.055). At follow-up rates of anxiety disorders were stable and were significantly different from controls (25% v. 9%, p<.05). Upon further examination of epilepsy-related variables, children with localization-related epilepsy were more likely to have an anxiety disorder at follow-up as compared to children with generalized epilepsy (p<.05). Development of an anxiety disorder at follow-up was significantly predicted by poorer performance on WRAT-3 Spelling and Reading and VIQ as well as identified learning problems at baseline. Among children with an anxiety disorder at baseline, high scores on PIQ and expressive vocabulary were predictive of remission of anxiety disorders at follow-up.Conclusions: Anxiety disorders are prevalent in children with epilepsy. Children with localization related epilepsy are at higher risk for anxiety disorders overtime. Language impairments appear to be risk factors for the development of anxiety.