The heterogeneity of patients with epilepsy in terms of psychological characteristics, quality of life, and a response to anticonvulsant therapy

Abstract

The complex characterization of patients with epilepsy involves a description of their psychological sphere, quality of life, and a response to ongoing anticonvulsant therapy.Objective: to study the heterogeneity of a group of patients with epilepsy in terms of the indicators of emotional and cognitive disorders, social adaptation, and a response to ongoing anticonvulsant therapy in order to identify criteria for rating these spheres.Patients and methods. 110 patients with epilepsy were examined. The levels of anxiety and depression, cognitive functions, and quality of life were assessed using the SF-36 and QOLIE-31 questionnaires, as well as the number of seizures and that of taken anticonvulsants were estimated. Multivariate statistical methods were used to divide the patients into subgroups.Results. Based on the examined characteristics, the investigators identified patient subgroups differing in the level of anxiety and depression, the characteristics of cognitive functions, quality of life, and a response to ongoing therapy with anticonvulsants, established a relationship between these characteristics and the form of epilepsy, and proposed criteria for rating these disorders. The heterogeneity of a group of patients with epilepsy was established using the examined characteristics; the higher level of cognitive impairment, the low efficiency of anticonvulsant therapy and the level of social adaptation were described in patients with symptomatic epilepsy.

Keywords

• epilepsy
• emotional sphere
• cognitive impairment
• quality of life