Quality of life

Abstract

One paper in this issue of Neurology and another in press article found that quality of life (QoL) assessment does not correlate with disease severity, but they come to entirely different conclusions about the implications of this disparity.1,2 Tracy et al.1 found that QoL, as assessed by the disease-specific Quality of Life in Epilepsy 31 Patient Inventory, does not correlate well with seizure control but is considerably influenced by mood. They suggest that a different approach to epilepsy-specific QoL measures is required to reflect better the influence of seizure control on QoL. Abrantes-Pais et al.2 found that QoL as assessed by the generic Satisfaction with Life Scale is actually better in those who are tetraplegic from a cervical cord injury vs those who are paraplegic from a lower spinal cord injury. They suggest that this disparity may be due to psychological and physiologic factors that need further exploration.2 Taken together, these two papers raise …