Anxiety symptoms, often without concomitant depression, were highly prevalent in an epilepsy sample in a recent study and independently associated with focal/unknown epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis. These results strongly support the value of screening specifically for anxiety in the epilepsy clinic, to direct patients to appropriate treatment. Among 540 adults, anxiety was measured by the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90R) anxiety subscale, and detailed demographics, epilepsy localization, and depression scores (SCL-90R) were collected. High anxiety was defined by SCL-90R anxiety T-score ≥60. Researchers found:

• High anxiety symptoms were present in 46.1% of participants (n=250).
• Focal or unknown epilepsy type and depression scores were independently associated with high anxiety.
• Lower education, non-white race/ethnicity, Spanish native language, prior head trauma, antiseizure drug polytherapy, and left focus or bilateral foci (in focal epilepsy) were associated with high anxiety in simple logistic regression, but these associations were not independent.
• A total of 46 individuals (18.4% of those with high anxiety) scored high for anxiety but not depression.
• Only 26% of those with high anxiety symptoms were taking a potentially anxiolytic medication.