Mood disorders in familial epilepsy: A test of shared etiology

Objective Mood disorders are the most common comorbid conditions in epilepsy but the cause remains unclear. One possible explanation is a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and mood disorders. We tested this hypothesis by evaluating lifetime prevalence of mood disorders in relatives with and without epilepsy in families containing multiple individuals with epilepsy, and comparing the findings with rates from a general population sample.