Some factors affecting anxiety in epilepsy patients at Hanoi Medical university Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate some factors affecting the rate of anxiety according to the GAD-7 scale in epilepsy patients. Research method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 120 epilepsy patients visiting the Examination Department - Hanoi Medical University Hospital from July 2023 to June 2024. The GAD-7 scale has been widely used to evaluate patients. Results: In 120 patients, the male/female ratio was 1/1, the average age was 31 years old, in which the age group from 18 to 30 years old dominated with 45%, the rate of anxiety was 74.2%, in which mild anxiety dominated with 40% and moderate anxiety with 30%. Income level below 10 million VND/month increased the rate of anxiety with OR: 0.428 with 95%CI not containing 1 and p = 0.045, treatment cost over 1 million VND/month had OR: 6.575 with 95%CI not containing 1 and p = 0.033. Factors of attack frequency over 2 attacks/week had OR: 4.203 with 95%CI not containing 1 and p = 0.036, over 2 attacks/3 months had OR: 5.35 with 95%CI not containing 1 and p = 0.021, and over 3 attacks/1 year had OR: 14.183 with 95%CI not containing 1 and p = 0.000. Conclusion: Post-epileptic anxiety is relatively high, seizure frequency, treatment costs and income level are among the factors affecting the rate of anxiety occurrence as well as the severity of anxiety according to the GAD-7 scale.