Evaluation of the quality of life of patients with epilepsy and patients with physchogenic non-epileptic seizures

Introduction: Many chronic diseases, particularly epilepsy, considerably impair and decrease the patients’ quality of life, both in regard to general well-being and everyday life activities. Epilepsy compromises the patient’s life within medical, psychosocial and professional spheres. Therefore, besides sustaining a full control over epileptic seizures, the goal of modern epileptology is to achieve the best possible quality of life of the patient. The quality of life related to health reflects the influence of disease on the patient’s life, i.e. the measure of suffering caused by the disease and its associated disorders. Thus, the evaluation of the quality of life has become the inevitable part of treatment protocol in patients with epilepsy, i.e. chronic diseases. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the results of the evaluated quality of life in adult patients with epilepsy and patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, as well as to determine causes and extent of changes in their quality of life. Material and methods: The study involved 180 patients aged over 18 years; of these, group I – 60 patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy (PHRE), group II – 60 patients with pharmacosensitive epilepsy (PHSE) and group III – 60 patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). In all three groups, we used a specific questionnaire for the evaluation of the quality of life in patients with epilepsy QOLIE-31 (Serbian version) filled out by the patients. In all patients, testing involved the statistical significance of difference in the influence of demographic, epileptic and psychosocial factors on subscale scores. Testing involved: of demographic factors – gender and age; of epileptic factors – type of epilepsy, adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs, and of psychosocial factors – anxiety, depression, mental status, marital status, residential status, residence location, degree of education, financial status, employment and driver’s license permit. The presence of anxiety symptoms were tested by tests for anxiety HAMA, GAD-7 and PHQ-4 (A), and depression symptoms by tests for depression BDI-II, NDDI-E and PHQ-4 (D). Mental status was tested by the Mini-Mental Test (MMT) and Clock Drawing Test (CDT). Results: By using the questionnaire QOLIE-31, identically poor quality of life was observed in the subjects of group I (PHRE) (62,72 ± 13,11) and III (PNES) (62,63 ± 12,03), while the quality of life was considerably better in the subjects of