HEALTH–RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EPILEPSY AMONG PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY

VARUN KUMAR VASHISHTH; TAMANA KALIA; KUSHA AGRAWAL; JUNIOR SUNDRESH

Volume : VII, Issue : I, January - 2018

HEALTH–RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EPILEPSY AMONG PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY

Varun Kumar Vashishth, Tamana Kalia, Kusha Agrawal, Junior Sundresh

Abstract :

Introduction: People with epilepsy have impairment in their quality of life (QOL) due to effect of epilepsy on various aspects of their life and the medication effects. Epilepsy carries an enormous social stigma and people with epilepsy tend to have lower quality of life (QOL).

Aim: The aim of this study to check the quality of health in epilepsy patients and to assess the extent of knowledge in patients regarding epilepsy

Methods: A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic profile, seizure characteristics, knowledge regarding cause of epilepsy, details of alternative forms of treatment taken and attitude towards medical treatment.

Results: In this study, the mean QOL score was 60.3�15.72 (range 20.45–97). The patients were found have more distress followed by seizure worry and lower energy (fatigue).The study demonstrated that all the QOLIE domains such as seizure worry, overall QOL, emotional well–being, energy/fatigue, cognitive functioning, medication effects, social functioning & distress had a significant association with the quality of life (P <0.001).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that optimizing seizure control might reduce the need for health care, particularly at the secondary level, thus reducing the costs of epilepsy both to society and to the person with epilepsy.