The effect of quality of life, medication adherence and number of medications on patients with epilepsy

Abstract

Purpose: In the management of people with epilepsy the effect of variables such as of quality of life, medication adherence, and number of antiepileptic drugs on seizure control are veritable tools to optimize their care thus the study aimed to assess the correlation and relationship of quality of life, medication adherence, and number of medications on seizure control. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of sample size of 141 respondents using systematic sampling techniques. Frequency of seizures was gotten from self-developed proforma. Adherence was evaluated using the Modified Morisky Adherence Scale (MMAS) instrument while Quality of life was evaluated using Quality of Life in Epilepsy Patient Weighted-10 questionnaire (QOLIE-10P) instrument. Correlation analysis was used to determine if these variables were related while multiple regression analysis was done to determine the extent these variables were related. Results: Seizure control and quality of life, seizure control and medication adherence, and that of seizure control and number of medications taken by the patient were related with a p value of <0.001, <0.001, 0.017 respectively. Multiple regression of the combined effects of quality of life, medication adherence, and number of medication as explanatory variables on seizure control gave coefficient (R), adjusted R2 and standard error of estimate as 0.979, 0.956, 0.632 respectively while each of the variable has effect on reduction of seizure episodes as -0.076, 0. 925, 0.176 respectively. Conclusion: Quality of life, medication adherence, and number of medications are related with seizure control; these variables have combined effect of more than nine-tenth on variability of seizure control while their individual effects are at least one-tenth on alteration of frequency of seizure episode. Keywords: Seizure-control, quality-of-life, medication-Adherence, epilepsy