Abstracts

To address the employment status of people with refractory epilepsy submitted to CR. Forty-six non-consecutive patients with refractory epilepsy submitted to CR were studied. Age ranged from 17 to 58 years (M= 37.6[plusmn]8.7). Twenty-seven patients were males. All patients have been followed up at the Hospital Brigadeiro Epilepsy Surgery Program in S[atilde]o Paulo. The follow-up time range from 2 months to 11 years. Only one patient was unable to read and write. Twenty-four patients have been rendered seizure-free after surgery, 20 patients had partial complex seizures and 2 patients had partial with secondary generalization. Twenty-six patients (56.5 %) were professionally impaired by epilepsy. Twenty-seven of them (58.7 %) were afraid that seizures could interfere in their professional life; twenty-six patients (56.5%) believed that epilepsy restricted their professional choices and thirty-two of them (69.5%) believed that epilepsy had already caused problems in their professional life. Six of them who were employed before surgery lost their jobs. Three patients that were not working before surgery are employed nowadays. Data concerning epilepsy and employment are scarce in the Brazilian population, especially after CR. Despite the fact that almost all patients could read and write, most of them had no professional skills. The high unemployment and sub-employment rate found in our patients, even in those who were cured by surgery, highlights the need for the development of rehabilitation programs directed to this selected population, as a way of improving quality of life and self-esteem. (Supported by FAEP, FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES.)