Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Epilepsy

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate health-related quality of life in patients with epilepsy and to investigate the role of sociodemographic attributes and clinical features. Methods: Two hundred five patients diagnosed with epilepsy and under the follow-up of epilepsy outpatient clinics of our tertiary center were enrolled. Gender, age, age of epilepsy onset, disease duration, seizure type, epilepsy etiology, frequency of seizures, anti-seizure drugs, electroencephalography, and magnetic resonance imaging findings were noted. The Short Form-36, valid and reliable in our country, was used to assess health-related quality of life. The Short Form -36 physical and mental scores were calculated. Results: All Short Form-36 subscores of patients were low when compared to the normative data of our country. Some physical and mental health scores of women with epilepsy were lower than the scores of men with epilepsy. All Short Form-36 subscores of patients under polytherapy were lower than the ones under monotherapy. Some quality of life scores were negatively correlated with disease duration; yet the range of age, age of epilepsy onset, seizure type, etiology of epilepsy, cranial magnetic resonance imaging, and electroencephalography findings were not significantly correlated with Short Form-36 scores. Conclusions: This study revealed that health-related quality of life of patients with epilepsy was lower than that of healthy individuals. It should be noted that women with epilepsy, patients with longer disease duration, patients suffering from frequent seizures, and the ones under polytherapy could have a lower quality of life. Patients with epilepsy should be supported in means of quality of life and modifiable factors.