Quality of Life and Personality in Adults with Epilepsy

Abstract

Summary:Purpose: This study was undertaken to understand the quality of life, personality, and associated factors in patients with epilepsy.Methods: 117 patients with epilepsy and 84 healthy people were studied and tested using the Social Support Scale, the General Well-being Schedule, the Life-Event Scale, the Behavior Pattern Scale, and the Eysenck Personality QuestionnaireResults: There were no significant differences between the patients with epilepsy and the control group in the Social Support Scale results. The General Well-being Schedule scores were lower for the case patients than for the control group (p < 0.01). Scores for patients with frequent seizures (once a month or more) were lower than those without frequent seizures (less W Q ) .than once per month). The case patients had higher negative scores in the family-related problem section of the Life Events Scale, compared with the control group (p < 0.05). The patients with epilepsy were also more likely to lie (p < 0.05); theu emotions were more changeable (p < 0.01), and their character more introverted (p < 0.05), although their behavior patterns were similar to the controls. We also studied associated factors related to personality, general well-being, and familial-negative life-events.Conclusions: These results provide information about patients with epilepsy that may be useful in their psychological treatment. Key Words: Epilepsy-Quality of life-Personality.Epilepsy continues to be a common and important health issue, with a morbidity rate of -4% in China (1). Although there has been rapid development in epilepsy drug therapy, the disease can still adversely affect patients' overall health. The disorder is similar to other chronic illnesses, in that medical management can often control but cannot always cure the disease. There have been other studies on the quality of life, psychosocial adjustment, and personality of patients with epilepsy in various countries (2-6). In China, there have been studies about personality and psychosocial well-being (7,8), but few have focused on the disorder's effects on patients' life events, social-support systems, general wellbeing, and behavior patterns. This study, which includes these aspects, aims to contribute to the developing body of research on the quality of life of patients with epilepsy in China. METHODS SubjectsThe case patients consisted of 117 adults at Xiang Ya Hospital in Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of Accepted May 20, 1998. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. D.-t. Zhu at Department of Neurology, Xiang Ya Hospital, Hunan Medical University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, P.R. China.China. All had epilepsy with no mental retardation 01 other handicaps. Ninety-one of the patients were men, and 26 were women, averaging 28.5 years of age (SD, 9.0; range, 16-63 years). Fifty-four of the case patients (46.1%) were married. There were 18 professionals, 54 workers, 19 farmers, 18 students and 8 others. Twenty; one graduated from college, 36 from senior middle school, 53 from junior midd...

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