Enhancement of Subjective Quality of Life Following Surgical Intervention in Patients With Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: A Depressive Symptom-Independent Outcome

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of depressive symptoms on the subjective perception of quality of life in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) after surgical treatment for seizures. Methods: A case-control study with DRE patients who received surgical treatment (n=19) and matched non-operated patients (n=23). We assessed the quality of life using the Subjective Handicap of Epilepsy (SHE) scale, alongside measuring depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: The mean age of the participants was 45 years, with females constituting 52.4% of the patients. A majority (73.8%) had been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Those who had undergone surgical intervention showed significantly enhanced performance across all quality-of-life domains on the SHE scale independently of depressive symptoms. The domains of "Work and Activity," "Physical Health," and "Self-Perception" displayed the greatest improvements, with the surgical group's averages outperforming the control group by factors of 1.87, 2.53, and 2.81, respectively. Influential differences impacting the quality-of-life scores included seizure frequency, the quantity of antiepileptic drugs utilized, and the incidence of convulsive seizures. Conclusion: The findings suggest that surgical control of seizures in drug-resistant focal epilepsy is associated with improvement in quality of life across various domains, independently of the depressive symptoms of the patients.