The Role of Personal and Immune Variables in the Development of Co-Morbid Affective and Related Psychopathological Syndromes in Partial Epilepsies in Relation to Handedness

Abstract

The current study was performed in order to find the influence of premorbid personality traits and immune variables on psychopathological constructs including affective and related syndromes in patients with epilepsy separately for right-handers and left-handers. Ninety two patients with epilepsy have been included into the study. There were 85 right-handers and 7 left-handers. Assessment of psychopathological status of patients has been performed by using of Symptom Check List −90 (SCL-90) and the Hamilton rating scales for Depression and Anxiety. The Munich Personality test (MPT) was used for the assessment of personality trait. The amounts of different lymphocytes clusters were calculated. The multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to find the relationships between personality, immunity variables and affective and related psychopathological syndromes separately for right-handers and left-handers.In the right-handers significant relationships between the Neuroticism level (MPT) and value of HAM-D, Depression construct (SCL-90), Anxiety (SCL-90), Obsessions (SCL-90) and Phobia construct (SCL-90) have been obtained. In the left-handers stochastically significant correlations between Regulatory Index (CD4/CD8) with Depression construct (SCL-90) and Obsession construct (SCL-90) were revealed. Premorbid personality traits determine the affective, anxiety, obsessive and phobia syndromes strictly in right-handed patients with epilepsy, while immunity variables (CD4/CD) quite the contrary predispose to affective and obsessive syndromes strictly in left-handed patients.