Abstracts

Rationale: Behavioural problems and psychiatric disorders are commonly associated with epilepsy. In this population based material we examined the tendency of somatisation and frequency of self reported psychiatric symptoms in youth with epilepsy (YWE) aged 13-19 years compared to controls.Methods: Data were cross-sectional and based on questionnaires from 19.995 youths (response rate 85%). Several questions which could indicate increased somatisation were analysed, concerning headache, stomach ache, back pain and neck and shoulder pain. The youths also answered questions concerning psychiatric symptoms as in feeling sad, irritability, nervousness, insomnia, tiredness or anxiety. The youths were asked if they in the last 6 months had experienced these symptoms, and questions could be answered almost every day, weekly, monthly or seldom/ never. Answers were grouped as almost daily vs. less often. Chi square was used for testing categorical variables. Results: 247 youths reported having or having had epilepsy (i.e. a life time prevalence of 1.2%). Youth with epilepsy reported symptoms of possible somatisation significantly more often than controls: having daily headache was reported by 11.3 % in YWE vs. 4.5% in controls (p<0.001), stomach ache 9.2 % vs. 2.4% in controls (p<0.001), back pain 13.4 % vs. 6.2% in controls (p<0.001), and neck and shoulder pain 17.3 % vs. 9.0% in controls (p<0.001). They also frequently reported psychiatric symptoms as sadness 10.4 % vs. 3.6% in controls (p<0.001), irritability 8.1 % vs. 3.6% in controls (p<0.001), nervousness 8.4 % vs. 2.5% in controls (p<0.001), insomnia 14.2 % vs. 8.0% in controls (p<0.001), tiredness 22.0 % vs. 12.2% in controls (p<0.001) and anxiety 8.9% vs. 1.4% in controls (p<0.001).Conclusions: Youth with epilepsy report a number of symptoms associated with somatisation, as well as symptoms of psychiatric distress significantly more often than controls. These symptoms are likely to contribute to the reduced quality of life found in many previous studies of the epilepsy population. Somatisation frequently occurs simultaneously with psychiatric disorders and early recognition of such symptoms can enable adequate measures and treatment.