Quality of Life of Epileptic Patients Compared to General Population in Tehran

Epilepsy is a chronic disease that affects different aspects of life; so we studied the quality of life of epileptic patients and compared it with general population of Tehran. We collected clinical and demographic data and studied quality of life by using the Iranian translation of Short Form 36 questionnaire version 2 (SF-36). The questionnaires were filled out by 200 patients with epilepsy referred to the Epilepsy Institute as outpatients. The mean age of our patients was 32.6 years. 54.5% were male. More than 60% of our patients had generalized tonic colonic seizures and seizure frequency was more than once a month in about 40% of them. Patients had lower scores in all subscales of SF-36, which were significantly lower than the general population. Mental health and vitality were the most affected by the disease and physical functioning was the least. Age, marital status, number of children, type of seizure and duration of disease had no effect on quality of life, but gender, educational level, occupation and income did influence quality of life. Clinical factors with significant effects on quality of life were as follows: number of taken drugs, number of adverse effects of drugs, frequency of seizures, and the time passed from last seizure. So we recommend treating patients using least number of drugs with minimum side effects. Striving for seizure free patients is very important and it is vital that we regard quality of life as an important factor in selecting appropriate treatment for patients.