Assessment and comparison of health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) in patients with epilepsy in India

Seizure frequency, medical and psychiatric morbidities, number and nature of antiepileptic drugs, and medication side effects have been correlated with decreased HRQOL scores in patients with epilepsy. Quality of Life in Epilepsy-31 patient inventory was translated and validated in two regional languages and administered to 80 patients with epilepsy who were on first-line antiepileptic drugs and classified as responders and nonresponders. The outcomes were measured based on 7 domains, such as seizure worry, overall QOL, emotional well-being, and energy/fatigue and based on the overall score of the scale. For both translations, Cronbach's alpha (coefficient) was greater than 0.70 [except for the seizure worry scale (0.69) in the Hindi questionnaire]. There was statistical difference (p < 0.0001) of HRQOL scores between responders and nonresponders of epilepsy. The HRQOL score was lower in nonresponders. The most affected domain was emotional well-being in both groups, and the least affected domains were energy/fatigue in responders and medication effect in nonresponders.

► QOLIE-31 was translated to Hindi and Marathi and validated by internal reliability (> 0.7). ► HRQOL scores of responders and nonresponders differed (p < 0.0001), lower in nonresponders. ► Emotional well-being is the most affected domain. ► The least affected domain is medication effect (nonresponders) and energy/fatigue (responders). ► Seizure frequency and response to AEDs have significant effects on the QOL of patients with epilepsy.