Epilepsy and suicide: pathogenesis, risk factors, and prevention

Review

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Authors: Alberto Verrotti, Alessandra Cicconetti, Barbara Scorrano, Domenico De Berardis, Carla Cotellessa, et al

Published Date April 2008 Volume 2008:4(2) Pages 365 - 370

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S2158

Alberto Verrotti¹, Alessandra Cicconetti², Barbara Scorrano², Domenico De Berardis^2,3, Carla Cotellessa², Francesco Chiarelli¹, Filippo Maria Ferro²

¹Department of Pediatrics; ²Department of Oncology and Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti, Italy; ³Department of Mental Health, Teramo, Italy

Abstract: Depression and suicide tendencies are common in chronic diseases, especially in epilepsy and diabetes. Suicide is one of the most important causes of death, and is usually underestimated. We have analyzed several studies that compare mortality as a result of suicide in epileptic patients and in the general population. All the studies show that epileptic patients have a stronger tendency toward suicide than healthy controls. Moreover it seems that some kinds of epilepsy have a higher risk for suicide (temporal-lobe epilepsy). Among the risk factors are surgery therapy (suicide tendency five times higher than patients in pharmacological therapy), absence of seizures for a long time, especially after being very frequent, and psychiatric comorbidity (major depression, anxiety-depression disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, psychoses). The aim of the review was to analyze the relationship between suicide and epilepsy, to identify the major risk factors, and to analyze effective treatment options.

Keywords: epilepsy, suicide, depression