RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent chronic neurological diseases, presenting a high frequency of psychiatric disorders (PD). This study sought to evaluate the clinical and sociodemographic profile of patients with epilepsy (PWE) attended at a regional reference psychiatric emergency unit. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive observational study was conducted utilizing a patient record database of individuals with epilepsy who were attended in a regional reference psychiatric emergency unit between January 2018 and August 2022. RESULTS: Out of the 31,800 psychiatric emergency visits, 260 (0.8â¯%) were of patients with epilepsy (ICD-10: G40). The majority were males (63.5â¯%) with a mean age of 42.11±15.39 years, single marital status (154; 59.25â¯%) and elementary education (75; 28.9â¯%). Most of them (203; 78.1â¯%) presented at least one psychiatric comorbidity at the emergency visit, but 109 (41.9â¯%) were not receiving any psychiatric follow-up. A total of 106 patients (40.8â¯%) had experienced at least one past psychiatric hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of PD is highly prevalent in PWE, and probably with a high frequency of psychiatric emergencies occurring among them. Further studies are needed to assess such patient profile, particularly involving data from psychiatric emergency units.