Impact of Physical Activity and Medication Adherence on the Seizure Frequency and Quality of Life of Epileptic Patients: A Population Study in West Texas.

Yoonjung Lee,Luca Cucullo,Yeseul Ahn

doi:10.1155/2022/4193664

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects 1-3% of the population. People with epilepsy (PWE) have poor physical and psychological health and a lower quality of life (QOL) than people without epilepsy. Moreover, PWE has more comorbid conditions (obesity, depression) than general populations. Physical activity (PA) has been reported to have various positive physical and psychological effects in PWE. Meanwhile, poor medication adherence is one of the main precipitating factors for seizure triggers. This study assessed the impact of PA and medication adherence on the seizure frequency and QOL for PWE at the Epilepsy Foundation, West Texas (EFWT). Our results indicate that PA is positively associated with the quality of life and negatively associated with the seizure frequency for PWE at EFWT, which suggests that physically active PWE tend to have fewer seizures and better QOL. Medication adherence did not affect the seizure frequency or QOL in our study. Yet, it is still crucial to encourage medication adherence for PWE since nonadherence is a known seizure promoter. Findings from this study highlight the continuous need to utilize available resources and implement programs to promote physical activity and medication adherence for better seizure control and QOL in PWE at EFWT.

Highlights

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally, affecting 1-3% of the population, 50 million worldwide, and 5.1 million in the U.S [1,2,3] Epilepsy is a neurological syndrome defined by having two or more spontaneous, unprovoked seizures separated by at least 24 hours [4]
A few potential mechanisms of physical activity reducing seizures include (1) Physical activity (PA) to reduce neuroinflammation, which is a known trigger for epilepsy, and (2) improved mitochondrial function to generate more energy sources for neurons, which helps for stabilization of neuronal activity [34,35,36]
The secondary outcome of our project was to obtain the demographic information of People with epilepsy (PWE), to assess PWE’s perception regarding physical activity, potential barriers of physical activity, PWE’s awareness on the seizure detection device, seizure types, and seizure frequencies, and to assess the areas of care that potentially require an improvement for PWE at the Epilepsy Foundation, West Texas (EFWT)

Summary

Introduction

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally, affecting 1-3% of the population, 50 million worldwide, and 5.1 million in the U.S [1,2,3] Epilepsy is a neurological syndrome defined by having two or more spontaneous, unprovoked seizures separated by at least 24 hours [4]. Comorbid conditions that are significantly higher in PWE than general populations include medical diseases (e.g., musculoskeletal disorders, chronic pain disorders, migraine, arthritis, obesity, fractures), psychiatric diseases (e.g., depression and anxiety), and cognitive diseases (e.g., ADHD and learning disability) [21] When all these factors (e.g., seizures, adverse drug events from AEDs, stigma, other comorbidities, and lifestyle restrictions) are summed up together, they negatively affect the overall quality of life (QOL) of PWE. A few potential mechanisms of physical activity reducing seizures include (1) PA to reduce neuroinflammation, which is a known trigger for epilepsy, and (2) improved mitochondrial function to generate more energy sources for neurons, which helps for stabilization of neuronal activity [34,35,36] All of these studies reported positive outcomes of PA. The secondary outcome of our project was to obtain the demographic information of PWE, to assess PWE’s perception regarding physical activity, potential barriers of physical activity, PWE’s awareness on the seizure detection device, seizure types, and seizure frequencies, and to assess the areas of care that potentially require an improvement for PWE at the Epilepsy Foundation, West Texas (EFWT)

Methods

A Total of 24 Surveys Were Collected in the Study

Discussion

Conclusion

Conflicts of Interest