Quality of life and its associated factors among epileptic patients attending public hospitals in North Wollo Zone, Northeast Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Epilepsy is thought to be caused by witchcraft, evil spirit, and God’s punishment for sins in many developing countries. As a result, people with epilepsy and their families usually suffer from stigma, discrimination, depression, and other psychiatric problems. Thus, this study aimed to assess the quality of life and its associated factors among epileptic patients attending public hospitals in North Wollo Zone, Northeast Ethiopia. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed in this study. A simple random sampling technique was utilized. Health-related quality of life was measured based on the total score of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31) instrument. Data were entered into Epi-data 3.1 statistical package and exported to SPSS Version 20 for further analysis. Linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between quality of life and the independent variables. Statistically significant values were declared at a P-value of < 0.05. Results A total of 395 patients participated in the study making the response rate 98.5%. The mean age of the participants was 32.39 ±10.71 years. More than half, 199 (50.4%) of epileptic patients had an overall weighted average health related quality of life score of mean and above. Male sex (B = 4.34, 95%CI, 0.41, 8.27, P = 0.03), higher educational status (B = 7.18, 95%CI, 1.39, 13.00, P = 0.015) and age at onset of epilepsy (B = 0.237, 95%CI, 0.02, 0.45, P = 0.035) were associated with increased health related quality of life score. On the other hand, family history of epilepsy (B = -4.78, 95%CI,-9.24,-0.33, P = 0.035), uncontrolled seizure (B = -11.08, 95%CI,-15.11,-7.05, P < 0.001), more than 5 pre-treatment number of seizures (B = -4.86, 95%CI,-8.91,-0.81, P = 0.019), poor drug adherence (B = -11.65, 95%CI,-16.06,-7.23, P < 0.001), having moderate (B = -4.526, 95%CI,-8.59,-0.46, P = 0.029) to sever (B = -12.84, 95%CI,-18.30,-7.37, P < 0.001) anxiety and depression, believing that epilepsy is caused by evil spirit (B = -7.04, 95%CI,-11.46,-2.61, P = 0.002), drinking alcohol (B = -5.42, 95%CI,-10.72,-0.13, P = 0.045), and having other co-morbidities (B = -9.35, 95%CI,-14.35,-4.36, P < 0.001) were significantly negatively associated with the health related quality of life score among epileptic patients. Conclusions Only around half of the epileptic patients have a good health-related quality of life. In addition, multiple variables including family history, uncontrolled seizure, and poor drug adherence were associated with quality of life among epileptic patients. Hence, targeting these variables in epilepsy management is recommended.

Health‐related quality of life and medication adherence of people living with epilepsy in Pakistan: A cross‐sectional study

“…This may be due to improper counseling (Ahmed et al., 2018) because of an overburdened healthcare setup, low annual income, lack of awareness about disease management (Kamal et al., 2016; Qidwai, 2009), unavailability and higher price of medications, and lack of insurance policies (Klara & Kiani Ayyaz, 2006). Males had higher adherence and HRQoL in our study than females, which was consistent with Portuguese (Silva et al., 2019), Indian (Ashwin et al., 2019), and Ethiopian study (Kassie et al., 2021). This finding is not limited to epileptic patients, and Ahmed et al.…”

“…Having higher levels of education was associated with increased levels of HRQoL in PWE. The finding that higher education is associated with better HRQoL in PWE is supported by studies from Uganda (Nabukenya et al, 2014), Ethiopia (Kassie et al, 2021), and Kenya (Kinyanjui et al, 2013). This might be because educated patients may have better social support, higher confidence and self-esteem, a better understanding of their medical condition, and more awareness on the importance of medication adherence and its impact on HRQoL (Martínez et al, 2008).…”

Level of Acceptance of Illness and Its Association with Quality of Life among Patients with Epilepsy in North Shewa, Ethiopia

“…The mean total QOLIE 31 score in this study was lower than study done in Wollo [ 36 ] and higher than the study done at Jimma [ 37 ]. Additionally, about half of the patients had an overall quality of life score greater or equal to the mean score level, while the remaining half had overall quality of life score below the mean.…”

“…But only 9.4% (n = 9) had high acceptance of illness (scored[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. The mean of overall acceptance of illness among epileptic patients was 21.04 with standard deviation of 7.21, which indicates medium level of acceptance of a disease among epileptic patients in the study area (Table2).…”

Health related quality of life in a Saudi population of patients with epilepsy

“…Symptoms range from a momentary loss of consciousness and muscle spasms to protracted convulsions. 2 , 3 Recurrent seizures involving the whole body (or a portion of it) that are caused by an overabundance of electrical discharges from a group of brain cells is characterized as epilepsy. 3 Epilepsy affects approximately 50 million patients worldwide, with an estimated cumulative yearly incidence rate of 67.77 per 100,000 individuals.…”