Quality of sleep, fatigue and adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients with epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is the second most common neurological disorder which affects 70 million individuals worldwide. The study assesses the quality of sleep, fatigue and adherence to antiepileptic medications among patients with epilepsy (PWE). A quantitative descriptive correlation study design was adopted. The investigator used simple random sampling technique to select 100 patients with epilepsy, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Quality of sleep was assessed using “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index”, fatigue with “Modified Fatigue Impact Scale” and adherence of antiepileptic medications with “Adherence in Chronic Disease Scale” by Self reporting technique. The study revealed that the quality of sleep was poor in 64% of the subjects, while the remaining, 36% had good quality of sleep. Majorities (83%) of the epileptic patients were found to have no fatigue, 12% had mild fatigue and the remaining 5% had moderate fatigue. Majority (81%) of the subjects were adherent to antiepileptic medications, 18% were moderately adherent and only 1% of them were non-adherent. The study depicts a negative correlation r= -0.099 (p= 0.338) between fatigue and adherence to antiepileptic medications which is not significant (p> 0.01) and shows no correlation (r =0 .0295) (p = 0.771) between the quality of sleep and adherence to antiepileptic medications. The study highlights a positive correlation (r= 0.2831(p= 0.004) between fatigue and the quality of sleep, which is significant (p < 09820.01). The study concludes that attention related to sleep in patients with epilepsy has important implication for diagnosis, seizure control and a better quality of life.