INTRODUCTION: Depression is a common comorbidity of epilepsy that is under-recognized and under-diagnosed. To improve recognition, a brief screening tool, the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory-Epilepsy-Youth (NDDI-E-Y) was implemented in a level-IV pediatric epilepsy clinic. METHOD: This quality improvement is a pre-post design measuring the impact of standardized depression screening, via the NDDI-E-Y tool, in youth 12-17 years with epilepsy. Those with positive screens, scores > 32, received social work evaluation and mental health resources. Education was provided to all patients in standard discharge paperwork. RESULTS: Of N = 176 patients evaluated, n = 112 met criteria to complete the NDDI-E-Y. Fifteen percent (n = 17) of patients had positive screens, suggesting that they are at risk for depression. DISCUSSION: Depression is a challenge when managing patients with epilepsy and may impact their quality of life and seizure control. Routine depression screening is recommended and feasible in the outpatient setting with a standardized work process.
INTRODUCTION:Depression is a common comorbidity of epilepsy that is under-recognized and under-diagnosed. To improve recognition, a brief screening tool, the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory-Epilepsy-Youth (NDDI-E-Y) was implemented in a level-IV pediatric epilepsy clinic. METHOD: This quality improvement is a pre-post design measuring the impact of standardized depression screening, via the NDDI-E-Y tool, in youth 12-17 years with epilepsy. Those with positive screens, scores > 32, received social work evaluation and mental health resources. Education was provided to all patients in standard discharge paperwork. RESULTS: Of N = 176 patients evaluated, n = 112 met criteria to complete the NDDI-E-Y. Fifteen percent (n = 17) of patients had positive screens, suggesting that they are at risk for depression. DISCUSSION: Depression is a challenge when managing patients with epilepsy and may impact their quality of life and seizure control. Routine depression screening is recommended and feasible in the outpatient setting with a standardized work process.
Authors: Adnan A Mubaraki; Afnan K Sibyani; Rehab A Alkhawtani; Bashaier G Alqahtani; Faris K Abu Alaynayn Journal: Neurosciences (Riyadh) Date: 2021-10 Impact factor: 0.735