Comparing Quality of Life in Epilepsy and Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES): A Prospective Study.
Abstract number :
3.092
Submission category :
Year :
2001
Submission ID :
2732
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Dec 1, 2001, 06:00 AM
Authors :
J.P. Szaflarski, MD, PhD, Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; D.M. Ficker, MD, Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; C.A. Hughes, RN, MSN, Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; M. Szaflarski, MA, Sociology, U
RATIONALE: Epilepsy and PNES commonly affect a younger population, hence school and work performance may be impaired. Many patients are disabled from these disorders due to the inability to drive or continue current employment; some of them also have significant adverse effects from medications. The objective of this study is to compare prospectively health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in epilepsy and PNES. We report the initial analysis of our continued prospective cohort.
METHODS: All patients admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit starting 2/01/01 who were able and agreed to participate in the study have been prospectively evaluated. All testing was performed prior to establishing the diagnosis. The measures include QOLIE-89 (higher score indicates better quality of life), Profile of Mood States (POMS; higher score indicates worse mood problems), and Adverse Event Profile (AEP; higher score indicates worse side effects). Of 34 patients admitted to EMU, 26 were able/willing to participate in the study. We used t-test to compare subsets of the QOLIE-89, POMS, and AEP between patients with PNES and epilepsy.
RESULTS: Twelve patients with epilepsy and 11 with PNES completed the evaluations (3 patients were excluded due to no diagnosis). Only patients with the diagnosis confirmed with video/EEG monitoring were included in the study. Patients diagnosed with PNES had significantly lower scores on the following subscales of QOLIE-89: Energy/Fatigue (p=0.016), Physical Limitations-Physical (p=0.035), and Attention/Concentration (p=0.05). A similar trend is observed for most of the other subscales though the differences are not significant. For POMS scores a significant difference was noted in Fatigue/Inertia (p=0.044) subscale. For other POMS scores including for Depression/Dejection subscale the results were higher in PNES than in epilepsy patients but the differences were not significant. PNES patients scored higher on AEP but this was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Among patients admitted to an inpatient EMU, patients with PNES have lower HRQOL than epilepsy patients.