Effects of psychosocial functioning, depression, seizure frequency, and employment on quality of life in patients with epilepsy

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the quality of life (QOL) in patients with epilepsy and its correlation with psychosocial impact, depression, seizure-related items, and living circumstances. One hundred two patients who visited the epilepsy clinic at Nagoya City University Hospital participated in this study. We used the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31-P (QOLIE-31-P) as a measure of QOL, the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E) as the screening instrument for rapid detection of major depression, and the Side Effects and Life Satisfaction Inventory (SEALS) to evaluate psychosocial functioning, seizure-related items, and living circumstances. Significant correlations of the QOLIE-31-P overall score with these questionnaires and seizure-related or demographic variables were identified and analyzed by stepwise linear regression. The QOLIE-31-P overall score correlated significantly with the NDDI-E, SEALS overall score, number of anticonvulsants, frequency of focal seizure with impairment of consciousness or awareness (focal seizure), sheltered work, and employment. The stepwise linear regression showed that the QOLIE-31-P overall score was explained by the effects of psychosocial functioning, depression, frequency of focal seizure, and employment, in that order, with these factors explaining 74% of the variance. Thus, using both the SEALS and NDDI-E may be useful to detect some aspects of QOL in clinical settings.