•Depressive/anxious disorders and cognitive impairment are frequent comorbidities in epilepsy and have a more deleterious effect in DRE.•Studies concerning the relationship between anxiety and depression and cognitive performance in DRE are scarce.•Higher scores in HADS are associated with lower QOLIE-31 scores and might be considered as predictors of QOL in DRE.•A relationship between anxious and depressive symptoms -measured with HADS and SCL-90R- and cognition might not exist.•There remains an unexplored study area regarding this relationship which requires more attention to improve the assessment of DRE.
© 2023 The Authors.