Psychiatric comorbidity in people with epilepsy in Ethiopia: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Psychiatric comorbidity is a double burden among people with epilepsy. Since people with epilepsy are more vulnerable to psychiatric illnesses. So, the implementation of an appropriate intervention to minimize the double burden of comorbidity is very important. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of psychiatric comorbidity among people with epilepsy in Ethiopia. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the Preferred Reporting Item Review and Metaanalysis (PRISMA) guideline. Searching databases were PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and HINARI. The quality of the included articles was assessed using the Newcastle -Ottawa Scale (NOS). The pooled meta-logistic regression was computed to estimate the pooled prevalence and the risk factors with a 95% CI. Results: The pooled prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in people with epilepsy was 34.69 % (95 % CI: 29.27, 40.10). Frequent seizures (POR = 2.94: 95 % CI: 1.08, 8.00) and a history of divorce (POR = 2.00: 95 % CI: 1.09, 3.81) were associated factors of psychiatric comorbidity in people with epilepsy. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that the pooled prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity among people with epilepsy was found to be higher compared with the general population. Therefore, among people with epilepsy, parallel psychiatric evaluation is very important along with neurological evaluation.