Health related quality of life of children with epilepsy in Egypt

Abstract EN

Children with epilepsy are at an increased risk of poor health-related quality of life even in the absence of active seizures.

The study was undertaken to assess the health-related quality of life and its predictors in children with epilepsy, comparing the relationship between different types of seizures and health-related quality of life in Egypt.

Patients / methods : This cross sectional case control study included 50 epileptic children aged 8–12 years, with a mean age of 9.35 ± 1.59 years and a male to female ratio of 1.8 : 1.

They were divided into two subgroups according to the types of seizures: 26 patients with generalized seizures in subgroup I and 24 patients with partial seizures in subgroup II, and 50 apparently healthy children of matched age, sex, and social class were included as the control group.

The Arabic version of the 23-item Pediatric quality of life Generic Core Scale (Parents’ scale) was applied to evaluate the health-related quality of life of both patients and healthy controls. Results : Diminished health-related quality of life is a common feature of epilepsy.

Highly significant lower overall quality of life scores of all functioning domains of health-related quality of life were present between patients’ subgroups (P < 0.001), and between total patients versus control groups (P < 0.001).

Univariate analysis was performed to identify significant predictors of poorer quality of life in children with epilepsy.

On analyzing the risk factors using odds ratio, epilepsy-related risk factors such as age at onset of seizures, types of seizures, duration of the illness, number and duration of antiepileptic drugs as well as children’s clinical variables such as learning problems, developmental delay in milestones, limitation in child hobbies, urine incontinence, and prolonged sleep, and some family-related variables such as marital disharmony and parental anxiety were found to be significantly strong predictors of poorer health-related quality of life in children with epilepsy, with prediction of 95 %. Conclusion : Epileptic patients were found to be at a higher risk of developing impaired quality of life with lower mean scores of all domains of quality of life, especially patients with generalized, frequent fits, those on polytherapy, and patients with a younger age of seizure onset and a longer duration of illness.

The scope of management of epilepsy should include optimal seizure control and improvement of the health-related quality of life of the affected children.