Psychosis of Epilepsy: a Meta-analysis
Summary
Background The relationship between psychoses and epilepsy has been the interest of many
studies. Although a large number of these studies give a prevalence rate of psychosis among
epileptic patients, to our knowledge this is the first time a meta-analysis is performed on the
subject. Aims The aim of this study is to do a meta-analysis to calculate the percentage of
psychosis in epilepsy. Also, separate meta-analyses will be performed to study psychosis in
primary generalizes epilepsy (PGE) and in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Methods Databases
were searched for literature that includes percentages of psychosis in epileptic patients. The
meta-analysis is performed with the program Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2.
Results Seventeen studies were found that met the inclusion criteria. The calculated event rate
was 0.042 for overall epilepsy, 0.046 for PGE and 0.10 for the separate meta-analysis that
specifically included studies of psychosis in patients with TLE. Conclusion As expected, the
percentage of psychosis in TLE was higher than in general epilepsy patients. In conclusion,
psychosis appears to be occurring twice as often in epileptic patients than in the general
population. Although this is a notable increase, the association between epilepsy and
psychosis is not so high as to assume a shared final common pathway.