The Factors Of Social Anxiety In Adult Epilepsy Patients In Northeast China

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the level of social anxiety in patients with epilepsy(PWE)in Northeast China.Methods: A consecutive cohort of 221 adult PWE from The First Hospital of Jilin University were recruited.Depressive symptoms,anxiety symptoms,social anxiety,and quality of life were evaluated using the Chinese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire 9(PHQ-9),Beck anxiety Inventory(BAI),20-item Social Phobia Scale(SPS),20-item Social Interaction Anxiety Scale(SIAS),and Quality-of-Life Inventory in Epilepsy-31(QOLIE-31),respectively.Multivariate linear regression analyses were employed to identify independent factors influencing SPS scores and SIAS scores.Results:The age of the patients in the group was between 18 and 74 years old,the average age was 35.33 ±12.59 years old,and the ratio of male to female was close to 1:1.Correlation analysis suggested that sex,age at onset,disease duration,seizure frequency over the last year,ASM treatment model,BAI score,PHQ-9 score,and QOLIE-31 score had a significant correlation with the SPS score.The age at onset,seizure frequency over the last year,ASM treatment model,BAI score,PHQ-9 score,and QOLIE-31 score correlated with the SIAS score.Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the total QOLIE-31 score(β=-0.188,P=0.007)was inversely associated with the SPS score in PWE.And the BAI score was positively associated with the SPS score in PWE.Additionally,high BAI score(β=0.299,P=0.01)and low total QOLIE-31 score(β=-0.378,P=0.001)were risk factors for high SIAS scores.Conclusion: Univariate analysis showed that gender,age of onset,course of disease,frequency of seizures in the past year,ASMs treatment,depressive symptoms,overall anxiety and quality of life were related to social anxiety in patients with epilepsy.Multivariate analysis showed that lower quality of life and higher overall anxiety of PWE were independent risk factors of social anxiety.