Epilepsy And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Epilepsy And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Nearly one in five adults with epilepsy also has symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity turmoil (ADHD), a renewed study finds. Researchers surveyed almost 1400 mature epilepsy patients across the United States. They found that more than 18 percent had significant ADHD symptoms. In comparison, about 4 percent of American adults in the inexact citizenry have been diagnosed with ADHD, the researchers noted. Compared to other epilepsy patients, those with ADHD symptoms were also nine times more conceivable to have depression, eight times more likely to have anxiety symptoms, suffered more seizures and were far less liable to to be employed.

So "Little was previously known about the prevalence of ADHD symptoms in adults with epilepsy, and the results were perfectly striking," study leader Dr Alan Ettinger, director of the epilepsy center at Neurological Surgery, PC (NSPC) in Rockville Centre, NY, said in an NSPC story release. "To my knowledge, this is the senior time ADHD symptoms in adults with epilepsy have been described in the orderly literature.

Yet, the presence of these symptoms may have severe implications for patients' quality of life, mood, anxiety, and functioning in both their venereal and work lives". The findings suggest that doctors may have to guide a broader approach to treating some epilepsy patients to improve their family, school and work lives. "Physicians who manage epilepsy often attribute depression, anxiety, reduced quality of life and psychosocial outcomes to the crap of seizures, antiepileptic therapies and underlying central nervous system conditions.

Our findings suggest that ADHD may also be playing a significant role," said Ettinger, who is also a professor of clinical neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Two experts in epilepsy worry said the swotting is an substantial one. "This study reaffirms what we've always said - that patients with epilepsy have a grave risk for attention-deficit disorder," said Dr Steven Wolf, an accomplice professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

And "We make up one's mind this in our own clinical experience here". Dr Cynthia Harden is numero uno of North Shore-LIJ's Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Center in Great Neck, NY She said, "Hopefully, this powerful information will motivate patients, families and the medical community who keeping for epilepsy patients to be vigilant for these disabling symptoms and to provide appropriate resources for addressing psychiatric issues".

Easing seizures may be key. "If a man with epilepsy can become seizure-free through appropriate medical and surgical interventions, this will go a hanker way toward eliminating the depression, anxiety, medication burden and ADHD symptoms that too often accompanies living with seizures. Study father Ettinger suggested that "as a next step, we basic to validate measures to screen for ADHD specifically in epilepsy and clarify the nature of ADHD symptoms in adults with epilepsy. This will non-professional the foundation for future trials of treatments that proposal the promise of rendering major improvements in the quality of life of adult epilepsy patients" vitoviga.eu. The turn over was published online Jan 15, 2015 in the journal Epilepsia.