Linking Depression, Suicide and Epilepsy
October 12, 2005(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New evidence reveals the brain dysfunction responsible for epilepsy could also determine who is at risk for suicide, while depression and suicide have different brain mechanisms.
The difficulties linked to epilepsy are commonly thought to trigger depression and an increased risk of suicide. It is hard for researchers, however, to explain the opposite.
"For reasons that are not understood, depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures," says Dale C. Hesdorffer, Ph.D., lead author of a study at Gertrude Sergievsky Center at Columbia University in New York.
Researchers suggest the idea of overlapping brain systems for epilepsy and depression. In a recent study, they attempted to better understand the relationship between depression, suicide and seizures. They compared both seizure/epilepsy and depression data in 324 participants with unprovoked seizures or epilepsy and 647 control subjects.
"One question we had was whether some symptoms of depression were more important than others for increasing the risk for developing epilepsy," Hesdorffer says. "Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts were possibilities, because people with epilepsy seem to be more likely to commit suicide than the general population. But we looked at all symptoms of depression."
While a history of depression increased the risk of epilepsy, researchers say those with epilepsy were four times more likely to attempt suicide before ever experiencing a seizure. Symptoms of depression were not found to increase the risk of experiencing seizures in the future.
SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, published online Oct. 10, 2005
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