Epilepsia

Summary Objective: To assess depressive symptom outcomes in a pooled sample of epilepsy self-management randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) Network integrated research database (MEW DB). Study Design and Setting (Methods): Five prospective RCTs involving 453 adults with epilepsy compared self-management intervention (n=232) vs. treatment as usual or wait-list control outcomes (n=221). Depression was assessed with the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Other variables included age, gender, race, ethnicity, education, income, marital status, seizure frequency and quality of life. Follow-up assessments were collapsed into a visit 2 and a visit 3; these were conducted post-baseline. Results: Mean age was 43.5 (SD 12.6), nearly 2/3 women and nearly 1/3 African-American. Baseline sample characteristics were mostly similar in the self-management intervention group vs. controls. At follow-up the self-management group had a significantly greater reduction in depression compared to controls at visit 2 (P <.0001) and visit 3 (P=.0002). Quality of life also significantly improved in self-management group at visit 2 (P=.001) and 3 (P=.005). Conclusions: Aggregate MEW DB analysis of five RCTs found depressive symptom severity and quality of life significantly improved in individuals randomized to self-management intervention vs. controls. Evidence-based epilepsy self-management programs should be made more broadly available in neurology practices.

31486072

PMC7370538

CDC Public Access