Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the quality-of-life (QoL) among children
with epilepsy in comparison with a healthy control group. Participants included mothers
of 206 children with epilepsy and of 211 healthy controls. The QoL was measured via
cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality-of-Life in Children with Epilepsy Questionnaire,
which was also modified for the control group. The mean (standard deviation) overall
QoL score of children with epilepsy was lower than that of the healthy control group
at: 74.3 (8.2) versus 87.9 (6.6), p < 0.001. In addition, all seven dimensions of QoL were lower among children with
epilepsy compared with that of the healthy control group. The health-related QoL of
children with epilepsy was lower than that of the healthy control group. Children
experiencing seizures more frequently, experiencing side effects from antiepileptic
drugs, having a history of hospitalization, and having poor school performance displayed
lower scores in QoL, which may highlight the impact of the severity of the disease
and proper management of seizures on the quality-of-life in children with epilepsy.
Keywords
epilepsy - quality of life - seizure
