Psychiatric Comorbidities in Patients with Epilepsy at University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau State

Psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy, including depression, anxiety, and psychosis, substantially worsen outcomes and are frequently undetected in Nigerian neurological care settings. This study examines the prevalence and types of psychiatric comorbidities among patients with epilepsy attending the neurology outpatient clinic at University of Jos Teaching Hospital (UJTH), Plateau State, North Central Nigeria. A cross-sectional design will recruit 200 patients with confirmed epilepsy diagnoses through consecutive sampling. The Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and the Psychosis Screening Questionnaire (PSQ) will screen for comorbid psychiatric conditions, which will be confirmed by structured psychiatric interview. Clinical variables including epilepsy type, seizure frequency, antiepileptic drug regimen, and EEG findings will be extracted from case records. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression will be employed. Evidence from tertiary neurology units in Nigeria suggests that 30 to 50 percent of epilepsy patients have undetected psychiatric comorbidities. This study will provide institutional prevalence data to support the integration of routine psychiatric screening into the epilepsy clinic at UJTH. Keywords: epilepsy, psychiatric comorbidity, depression, Plateau State, Jos Teaching Hospital