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Purpose: Religion can be important in the everyday lives of persons with epilepsy (PWE). However, there is little research on religion, as it relates to individuals with epilepsy. We determined a relationship between religious coping strategies and psychological distress in Korean adults with epilepsy who had a religious affiliation., Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in outpatient clinics. Religiosity and religious coping strategies were assessed using the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) and the Brief Religious Coping Scale (B-RCOPE). Psychological distress was measured using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed., Results: A total of 88 participants were included. Positive religious coping strategies were more likely utilized than negative religious coping (p < 001). Religiosity was positively correlated with positive coping (r = 0.439, p < 0.001) but was not correlated with negative coping. Negative coping was significantly related to higher levels of anxiety (β = 0.237, standard error (SE) = 0.107, p < 0.05) and depressive symptoms (β = 0.260, SE = 0.095, p < 0.01), after controlling for religiosity and other confounding factors. However, positive coping was not related to anxiety and depressive symptoms. The two types of coping strategies were positively related to each other (r = 0.304, p < 0.01)., Conclusions: We found significant positive associations between negative religious coping and anxiety and depressive symptoms in PWE. Positive religious coping was not related to anxiety and depressive symptoms., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: We aimed to determine whether adolescents with epilepsy (AWE) have a compromised self-concept, whether a lower self-concept is related to mental health, and whether there are sex differences in self-concept in AWE., Methods: A total of 179 AWE and 259 control adolescents without epilepsy participated in this cross-sectional, multicenter study. Self-concept was measured using the Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children. Depressive symptoms and anxiety were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). A group-by-sex interaction was evaluated using an analysis of covariance controlling for age., Results: Adolescents with epilepsy had a lower level of self-concept, especially in domains of behavioral conduct (partial eta(2): 0.257) and social acceptance (partial eta(2): 0.116), than controls (p<0.05). The level of self-concept did not differ by sex in the group with epilepsy. A group-by-sex interaction effect was found on social acceptance (p=0.042). Unlike the control group, age was not correlated with self-concept in AWE. Physical appearance was negatively correlated with HADS-anxiety scores (r=-0.291, p<0.01) but only in girls with epilepsy. Epilepsy duration was correlated with social acceptance in boys (r=0.211, p<0.05) and physical appearance in girls (r=-0.249, p<0.05)., Conclusions: Adolescents with epilepsy had a lower level of self-concept, especially in the domains of behavioral conduct and social acceptance, than controls. Sex differences in self-concept were identified in the control group but not in the group with epilepsy. Physical appearance was negatively correlated with anxiety in girls with epilepsy., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Public misconception of epilepsy may lead to significant stigma to the disease itself, thereby causing impaired quality of life in people with epilepsy. Traditionally, epilepsy has been considered to be the consequence of evanescent spiritual forces, and even demonic possession (in many countries). The names of epilepsy in some East Asian countries originated from China, and include madness in their meaning. We recently changed the Korean name of epilepsy, gan-jil (간질, : a crazy, convulsive disease having meaning similar to ), to a neutral and scientifically explainable name: noi-jeon-jeung (뇌전증; ; cerebroelectric disorder). We expect that changing the stigmatized name of epilepsy to a neutral and scientific term with the meaning of cerebroelectric disorder will reduce the social stigma by understanding of epilepsy as one of the neurologic disorders., (Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.)

Background: Although the US FDA recommends screening for HLA-B*1502 allele in most of Asian ancestry before initiating carbamazepine therapy, the HLA associations with carbamazepine hypersensitivity in non-Chinese Asian populations remain unclear. This study investigated the association between the HLA class I genotype and carbamazepine-induced severe cutaneous adverse reaction (SCAR) in Koreans., Methods: Twenty-four patients who had developed carbamazepine-induced SCAR (7 Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), 17 drug hypersensitivity syndrome (HSS)), 50 carbamazepine-tolerant controls from the Korean Pharmacogenetic Adverse Drug Reaction Research Network and data of 485 Korean general population from a previously published study were recruited. HLA-A, -B, and -C genotyping was performed by direct DNA sequence analysis., Results: Only one of the seven SJS patients was positive for the B*1502 allele, but the frequency of B*1511 was much higher in the patients with CBZ-SJS than in the CBZ-tolerant control patients (P=0.011, P(c)=not significant; OR=18.0(2.3-141.2)). The frequencies of A*3101 in carbamazepine-induced HSS and SCAR were significantly higher than those in carbamazepine-tolerant controls (P(c)=0.011, OR=8.8(2.5-30.7) and P(c)=0.013, OR=7.3(2.3-22.5), respectively). The frequencies of B*1511 in carbamazepine-SJS and A*3101 in carbamazepine-HSS/SCAR were significantly higher than those in the general population., Conclusions: HLA-B*1502 does not seem to be an effective predictive marker for carbamazepine-induced SCAR, while HLA-B*1511 and A*3101 was associated with carbamazepine-induced SJS and HSS/SCAR respectively in the Korean population., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)