Factors associated with quality of life of patients with epilepsy attending a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata, India

ABSTRACT

Epilepsy is one of the most important neurological diseases with prolonged morbidity and disability leading to profound fi nancial loss. There have not been many studies investigating factors infl uencing the quality of life in an epilepsy patient in India. This study was conducted among the epilepsy patients attending a tertiary care hospital in West Bengal, India. Two hundred and four epilepsy patients attending the Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Neuromedicine, Medical College, Kolkata were interviewed with the Bengali version of QOLIE 9 (i.e. Quality of life in Epilepsy 9 questionnaire). The mean of total QOLIE score was 18.02 ± 4.87, the range being 10 to 30. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that workdays lost due to epilepsy in last three months, use of two or more antiepileptic drugs, higher frequency of seizure, and longer time gap between onset of seizure and consultation with neurologist were signifi cant predictors for poorer quality of life score in the epilepsy patient.