Psychological Distress Among Iranian Patients With Epilepsy During COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: During Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with epilepsy (PWE) have faced with delayed outpatient visits, cancellation of their para-clinic tests, and problems in accessing to emergencies. Regarding to the previous studies, PWE are at increased risk of psychological disorders than healthy persons. Objectives: This study aimed to compare psychological distress between PWE and a healthy control group. Materials Methods: This study was performed in the sixth wave of COVID-19 in Mashhad, Iran. We evaluated 132 PWE who consecutively referred to the Neurology Clinics of 22 Bahman Hospital. Also, 132 age and sex matched-healthy persons were included as the control group. Demographic and epilepsy related-data were collected through a questionnaire. The 6-item Kessler questionnaire was used to assess psychological distress. Results: The included PWE and the control groups were similar among all demographic variables, unless monthly income. We found that PWE had significantly higher psychological distress level (P=0.03) and spent significantly more time following the COVID-19-related news (P=0.000). By using ANCOVA test we found that PWE have significant higher levels of concerns about COVID-19 (P=0.03) and spend more time following COVID-19-related news (P=0.04). Logistic regression revealed that PWE 1.124 times more concern about COVID-19 outbreak and 0.294 time pay less attention to COVID-19 related news. Conclusion: During public health emergencies, health care professionals should focus not only on seizure control but also on the mental health status of PWE, particularly those with higher number of seizures.