Abstract

Background: Free radicals have been implicated in the development of various acute and chronic diseases of brain. The present cross sectional study was designed to illustrate the oxidative stress in epilepsy with co morbid psychiatric illness using malondialdehyde as only few studies were available in this context.
Objective: To evaluate the malondialdehyde (MDA) as a marker of oxidative stress in epilepsy with psychiatric co morbidity.
Materials and Methods: The present cross sectional study had 210 samples which were divided in 5 groups including age and sex matched control. The MDA formation was estimated using the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) using spectrophotometry. The statistical analysis was done by using SPSS software and results were described with unpaired T test and p value.
Results: MDA levels were significantly higher in epilepsy with psychiatric co morbidity, psychosis and depression than control. On further comparison, the MDA levels were higher in persons of epilepsy with psychiatric co morbidity than with psychosis or depression. Conclusion: Level of oxidative stress was significantly higher in epilepsy with co morbid psychiatric illness as compared to control.