Exploring the interplay between depressive symptoms and seizure outcomes: A single-centre study of drug-resistant epilepsy patients treated with vagus nerve stimulation

Our study indicates that DRE patients with depressive symptoms respond better to VNS therapy for their predominant seizure type than those without depressive symptoms. This unexpected finding may be explained by the shared neurobiological background of seizures and depressive symptoms, potentially influenced by VNS treatment. Patients with FBTCS as their predominant seizure type achieved the most favourable outcomes. Further investigations in a larger cohort of DRE patients with depressive symptoms are warranted to validate our results.