Quality of life in newly-debuted epilepsy : an empirical study

• Objectives - This study aimed to illuminate adult's experienced quality of life in newly-debuted epilepsy and to test the American instrument Quality of Life Index (QLI) for the first time on an epilepsy population. A second aim was to find appropriate questions to measure patient perceptions in epilepsy.Material and methods - All persons 18–65 fulfilling criteria (n=41) and diagnosed during a 15-month period at 2 Swedish hospitals, answered questionnaires (n= 37/41) on quality of life and perceptions of epilepsy.Results - Patients experienced the highest quality in the “Family” domain and the lowest in the “Psychological/ spiritual”. Significant correlations were found between quality of life and experienced change of life situation, own perceptions of epilepsy, seizure frequency after diagnosis, gender and side effects from antiepileptic drugs. The QLI was well applicable on people with epilepsy.Conclusions - Data indicates that debut of epilepsy has an evident impact on quality of life and a more extensive study is required.

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