Aggressive behavior and epilepsy : a multicenter study

The aim of this study is to describe aggressiveness in the epilepsy population and to identify possible relationships between this type of behavior and clinical and sociodemographic variables. Aggressive responses were measured by the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), a standardized and validated instrument, which was administered to 503 patients from nine Italian centers for the care of epilepsy. Aggressive behavior in patients with epilepsy was different from that in the normal Italian population. After adjustment for age and sex, when appropriate, the following variables significantly affected aggressiveness: presence of compromised intellectual functioning, psychiatric disturbances, disability status, number of medications, geographic distribution, education, chronologic age, and disease duration. Our study offers a starting point for further investigations aimed at better understanding the mechanisms connecting aggression and epilepsy.