The Influence of Socio-demographic and Clinical Factors on the Quality of Life of Patients with Epilepsy

Abstract

Background. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. Its diagnosis affects the level and quality of life, as well as the daily functioning of people suffering from this disease. Their quality of life assessment is equally dependent on biological, psychological and social factors.
Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the quality of life of epileptic patients and socio-demographic and clinical factors.
Material and methods. The study involved 154 people suffering from epilepsy. Most of them lived in a city with over 60.000 inhabitants and had secondary education. More than a half were retired. The method used in the study was a diagnostic survey. The study adopted surveying as a research technique. A statistical analysis of the results was carried out using the Statistica for Windows 9.0 statistical package. The p values p<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results. A statistically significant correlation between the quality of life of epileptic patients and socio-demographic factors like: a place of residence (χ2=35.31; p=0.008), education (χ2=56.47; p=0.0007), professional status (χ2=71.86; p=0.0003), and age (χ2=31.16; p=0.02). There was no correlation between the quality of life of people with epilepsy and their sex (χ2=15.61; p=0.07) and marital status (χ2=30.35; p=0.2). The results displayed no relationship between the quality of life and seizure frequency (χ2=43.88; p=0.1) and the number of hospitalizations (χ2=34.15; p=0.5).
Conclusions. The higher the level of education and professional activity, the higher the subjective assessment of the quality of life of patients. Respondents living in urban agglomerations asses their quality of life higher compared to those living in rural areas. The older the respondents and the longer disease, the worse the subjective assessment of the quality of life and health. (PNN 2013;2(4):155-164)