A new Italian instrument for the assessment of irritability in patients with epilepsy.

The purpose of the work described in this article was to analyze the psychometric properties of a new Italian instrument for the assessment of irritability in adult patients with epilepsy (I-Epi). Five hundred four patients from nine secondary and tertiary Italian centers for the care of epilepsy were recruited and interviewed. Each patient was evaluated on a series of demographic and clinical variables recorded before administration of the I-Epi and the AQ (Aggression Questionnaire), used for external validity. The final results supported the reliability and validity of the I-Epi as a measure of irritability in the adult epilepsy population. The psychometric characteristics of the I-Epi seemed fairly good. We believe that adoption of this new instrument could be very useful in both clinical and research management of patients with epilepsy.