Health related quality of life in adult patients with epilepsy compared with a general reference population in Taiwan
Journal
Epilepsy Research
Journal Volume
64
Journal Issue
3
Pages
151-159
Date Issued
2005
Author(s)
Abstract
To compare the health-related quality of life (HRQL) for patients with epilepsy and health subjects, we collected the clinical and demographic data and information on health states by using the Taiwan version of World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL)-BREF questionnaire in 296 patients (aged 19-73 years) with confirmed active epilepsy visiting the clinic of National Taiwan University Hospital, and 296 age-, gender-, municipal- and education-matched Taiwanese healthy subjects sampled from a national health interview survey. Multiple regression analyses with stepwise selection strategy were conducted to study risk factors for impairment of HRQL. Patients with epilepsy have poorer HRQL than the healthy population in physical, psychological and social domains but not in environment domain (p < 0.005). Patients with less than 4 attacks during the previous 1 month had a better score in the availability and quality of health and social care in environment domain than healthy subjects (p < 0.05). After controlling other determinants, seizure frequency, and comobid with other diseases are the important factors in predicting HRQL for epilepsy patients. Patients with employment and married had a significantly better HRQL. Effective control of seizure frequency and thoughtful promotion of positive attitudes in community are essential to improve the HRQL of epilepsy patients. ? 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
SDGs
Other Subjects
adult; aged; article; comorbidity; comparative study; controlled study; demography; employment; environmental factor; epilepsy; female; health center; health promotion; health survey; human; interview; major clinical study; male; medical information; multiple regression; physical activity; prediction; priority journal; psychological aspect; quality adjusted life year; questionnaire; risk factor; sample size; seizure susceptibility; social care; university hospital; world health organization; Adult; Aged; Epilepsy; Female; Humans; Linear Models; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Quality of Life; Taiwan
Type
journal article