Abstracts

Rationale: Caregivers play an important role in the physical and mental health of people with epilepsy (PWE). Our purpose is to investigate the factors associated with health related quality of life (HRQOL) of caregivers for people with epilepsy. Methods: Adult patients who had drug resistant epilepsy and their primary caregivers were asked to complete the questionnaire of Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-89) and the SF-36 Health Status Questionnaire respectively. Possible variables that might be associated with HRQOL of the caregivers were obtained, including patients' age of onset, seizure type, duration of epilepsy, Seizure Severity Questionnaire (SSQ), and the caregiver's gender, age, Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Univariate analysis was used in the beginning and significant factors were analyzed in a stepwise backward multivariate linear regression to explain the variance of HRQOL of the caregivers. Results: There were 63 PWE and their caregivers completing the questionnaires. The total scores, mental health dimension, physical health dimension of the caregivers were 75.7±15.3 , 71.0±16.3, 75.2±15.3 (mean±sd) respectively. The caregivers' HRQOL was associated with ZBI, BAI, BDI of themselves, and mental dimension scores of HRQOL of PWE in the univariate analysis. The caregivers' scores of SF-36 were not correlated with the patients' scores, age of onset, seizure type, epilepsy duration, or the caregivers' gender or age. In multivariate analysis, caregivers' ZBI, BAI, BDI remained in the model and accounted for 41.8% of the variance for total scores of HRQOL. The ZBI and BDI explained 46.8% of the mental dimension of HRQOL in caregivers, and the BAI and BDI accounted for 26.4% of the physical dimension of HRQOL. Conclusions: The HRQOL in the caregivers of PWE was much affected by their burden, anxiety and depression. However, the HRQOL of the PWE had only weak association with the HRQOL of their caregivers. Reducing the burden and recognizing mood problems of the caregivers would help improve their HRQOL.