Emotional and behavioral disorders in children with epilepsy.

This cross sectional study was done to observe the prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders in children with epilepsy, in the Department of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Neurology, of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Bangladesh from July 2007 to June 2008. In this study, information about psychiatric disorders of 50 epileptic children, age ranging from 5-17 years with mean±SD (11.1±1.43) years, and 50 age, sex and socio-demographic status matched controls children (age ranging from 5-18 years with mean±SD (11.6±1.82) years were enrolled by parent, teacher and self version of Development And Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA) (Validated Bangla Version). Emotional disorders are more prevalent than behavioral disorders among epileptic children. Forty four percent (44%) of children with epilepsy had psychiatric disorder and this rate was significantly higher than that of healthy control (p>0.05). Disorders include major depressive disorder (20%), obsessive compulsive disorder (25%), other anxiety disorders (25%), specific phobia (15%), separation anxiety disorder (10%) and panic disorder with agoraphobia (5%).