Anxiety and Depression in Epilepsy: A Treatment Study

Phase 4

Completed

Conditions: Anxiety
Depression
Epilepsy

Interventions: Drug: Escitalopram 10mg
Other: Referral to Psychiatry
Other: Survey only

Registration Number: NCT03464383

Lead Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Brief Summary: As a potential solution to address high rates of depression and anxiety seen in epilepsy patients and poor mental health care access, this randomized trial aims to study treatment for anxiety and depression in epilepsy taking place directly within the epilepsy clinic vs. psychiatry referral (typical care). Patients that meet eligibility criteria, including significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, will be randomized to the either the intervention group or the control group. Patients that do not meet eligibility requirement or decline the study intervention will have the option of participating in the survey arm of the study. The intervention will consist of an initial prescription for an FDA-approved medication to treat depression/anxiety and telephone-based chronic care management plan for repeated symptom measurement and side effect surveillance. The control group will receive usual care, which is a referral order to psychiatry placed by their treating neurologist. Participants in the survey arm of the study will complete a one time survey.

Detailed Description: This trial is an innovative learning healthcare system approach to translate the concept of measurement-based depression care into a specialty clinic setting and extend the concept to treat depression and/or anxiety. The investigators' neurologist/APP-administered medication intervention utilizes FDA-approved drugs with advantageous features for use in epilepsy (escitalopram and venlafaxine) and a telephone-based chronic care management plan for repeated symptom measurement and side effect surveillance. The proposed intervention may overcome barriers to implementing mental health treatment interventions in generalized clinical settings by using healthcare providers commonly present in specialty clinics (physicians and APPs) along with a billable, best practices chronic care management intervention package and EMR-based clinical tools.To test this idea, the investigators seek to pilot a randomized trial of neurologist/APP medication management of depression and anxiety versus usual care with psychiatry referral in the epilepsy clinic, using epilepsy as a paradigm for chronic medical illness with high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity. The optional survey arm is to help investigators understand the population that do not meet criteria or refuse intervention.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 69

Inclusion Criteria

Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
Age 18 or older
Ability to take oral medication and the willing to adhere to the intervention regimen
Minimum of 1 prior clinic visit at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Ability to complete questionnaires independently
Diagnosis of epilepsy: EEG with documented seizure or epileptiform discharges OR non-epileptiform EEG and seizure remission with antiseizure drug OR treating epileptologist's leading clinical impression is epilepsy
(Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for epilepsy, NDDI-E score greater than 15 and/or Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, GAD-7 score greater than or equal to 10

Exclusion Criteria

Pregnancy or lactation
Known allergic reactions to escitalopram or venlafaxine
Comorbid psychogenic nonepileptic seizures
Prior psychiatric hospitalization
Prior suicide attempt
History of manic or psychotic symptoms (past manic episode (SCID-I), or psychotic symptom screen positive)
Current treatment by a psychiatrist or counselor/therapist
Active suicidality at the time of screening
Current treatment with buspirone or an SSRI/SNRI/atypical antidepressant (specifically bupropion, fluoxetine, levomilnacipran, citalopram, milnacipran, desvenlafaxine, mirtazapine, duloxetine, paroxetine, escitalopram, sertraline, fluvoxamine, venlafaxine, vilazodone, vortioxetine)

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Epileptologist-Driven Treatment	Escitalopram 10mg	The intervention will consist of initiating a chronic care management plan in the epilepsy clinic and an initial prescription from the epileptologist for escitalopram 10mg daily. Escitalopram dose adjustment will be made based on biweekly repeated screening of anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as side effects identified on biweekly telephone calls or the 6-week advanced practice provider (APP) follow up visit. Escitalopram dose may be titrated up to a maximum of 20mg daily in 5-10mg increments every 2 weeks for treatment effect, or titrated down to 5mg if needed for adverse effects. If a participant is unable to tolerate escitalopram, then venlafaxine XR 37.5mg will be substituted, to be titrated in a similar manner biweekly based on side effects and anxiety and depression symptoms (with 37.5-75mg increment dose changes and maximum dose of 225mg daily).
Standard of Care	Referral to Psychiatry	A psychiatry referral order placed by epileptologist under typical care circumstances (internal or external referral based on the participant's geographic preferences). Internal referrals will be processed by current clinic/institutional protocols. External referral orders will be printed and provided to the patient along with brief instructions on how to find a provider covered by the patient's insurance.
Survey Arm	Survey only	This option will be offered to individuals who are found to have anxiety or depression symptoms on screening but who are found to be ineligible for intervention arms of the study, or those who are eligible for the intervention arm but decline to participate in the intervention.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Adherence to Intervention	12 weeks	Percentage of participants who report taking the prescribed medication at 12 weeks and who have completed at least 2 of the chronic care management scheduled visits (telephone or clinic visit)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Retention	12 weeks	Percentage of participants who complete the 12 week outcome assessment
Efficacy - Depression Symptoms	12 weeks	Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) among those with high depression at baseline. The BDI-II is a self-report measure of depressive symptoms. Scores range from 0 to 63, with a higher score representing higher levels of depressive symptoms and higher scores representing worse outcome.
Efficacy - Anxiety Symptoms	12 weeks	Beck Anxiety Index (BAI) among those with high anxiety at baseline. The BAI is a self-report measure used for measuring the severity of anxiety. Scores range from 0 to 63, with a higher score representing more severe anxiety symptoms and higher scores representing worse outcomes.
Accrual	baseline	Percentage of patients screened for the trial who are eligible
Participants Eligible for Consent Into Treatment Arms	baseline	Percent eligible who consent to participate in treatment study