Predictors of quality of life in patients with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

Purpose: The identification of variables associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy related to hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) would improve surgical decision-making and post-operatory follow-up in this group of patients. Methods: We analyzed the independent association between the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31) of 81 consecutive patients with refractory MTLE-HS. The clinical, demographic, radiological and electrophysiological variables were analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Key findings: Approximately 36% (adjusted R-2 = 0.36; R coefficient = 0.66) of the QOLIE-31 overall score variance was explained by the history of initial precipitant injury, family history of epilepsy, disease duration, age of epilepsy onset, seizure frequency and presence of psychiatric axis-II diagnosis. The variance of QOLIE-31 sub-scales was: seizure worry = 7%; overall QOL = 11%; emotional well-being = 32%; energy/fatigue = 38%; cognitive function = 13%; medication effects = 7%; social function = 13% (R coefficient between 0.30 and 0.65). Significance: The pre-surgical variables studied had relatively low prediction capacity for the overall QOLIE-31 score and its sub-scales in this set of Brazilian patients with refractory MTLE-HS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.