Seizure recency and quality of life in adolescents with childhood-onset epilepsy

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is associated with seizure recency among adults with epilepsy. In a prospective, community-based study of long-term outcomes of childhood-onset epilepsy, we evaluated whether worse HRQOL is associated with more recent seizures among children and adolescents with epilepsy. We used the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), a generic measure with child and parent-proxy versions, to measure HRQOL. Among 277 children with epilepsy (CWE) assessed 9 years after diagnosis, parent-proxy reported but not child self-reported HRQOL was significantly worse for those having seizures in the prior year than for those who were seizure free ≥ 1 year across the majority of scales. There were no differences between CWE in remission for 1-5 years and those seizure free ≥ 5 years for child and parent-proxy reported HRQOL with the exception of the parent Emotional Impact scale, suggesting that HRQOL differences related to seizure recency level off after the initial year of remission.