The quality of life of older people with epilepsy: findings from a UK community study

Abstract

The impact of epilepsy on the quality of life of older people with epilepsy has rarely been investigated. As part of a large prevalence study of epilepsy conducted in one UK Health Region, we investigated the burden of their condition in older compared with younger people. A second analysis compared quality of life in those men and women diagnosed after the age of retirement from the workforce compared with those diagnosed before that age. Data were collected from men and women with epilepsy and from their primary and secondary care physicians. There were few differences between older and younger people with regard to their reported quality of life, though younger people were more likely to report feeling stigmatized by their condition. Older people with epilepsy diagnosed in later life were more anxious and depressed than those diagnosed earlier and their overall perception of quality of life was more likely to be negative. Our data emphasize that older people do not necessarily experience poorer quality of life than younger people, but those first diagnosed in later life do appear to have a quality of life which is more impaired. Consideration should be paid to the important psychosocial consequences of epilepsy in the older person.

Depression in epilepsy

“…Depression was diagnosed by one of 3 different scales: self-report, administrative data codes, or clinical assessment. Three data sources employed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] one used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), 3,4,25,26 and a final study used the Kessler-6 (K-6). 27 The K-6 was included with the remaining data sources, as it has a question specific to feeling depressed in the past 30 days.…”

Anxiety Disorders in Epilepsy

“…In adult patients, first-onset epilepsy in late life is shown to be linked with higher levels of anxiety (Baker et al, 2001). However, in children and adolescents, most of the studies do not support a relationship between age at seizure onset and increased risk of anxiety (Williams et al, 2003;Ettinger et al, 1998;Pianta et al, 1994;Oguz et al, 2002).…”

Epilepsy and Stigmatization: A review

“…Orta Çað Avrupa'sýna ait cadý avlama tekniklerinin anlatýldýðý yazýlý kaynaklardan bir kitapta cadýlar, içinde nöbet geçir-menin de dahil olduðu bir takým özelliklerle tarif edilmektedir. Bu damgalanma Ýngiltere'de, 1930 ve sonrasýnda; epilepsi hastalarýnýn evlenmelerini, çocuk sahibi olmalarýný, epilepsi hastasý olan çocuklarýn evlatlýk olarak verilmelerini yasaklayan, çok sýk nöbet geçiren hastalarýn bir akýl hastanesine kapatýlmasýný öngören bir takým kanunlarýn çýkarýl-masýyla devam etmiþtir (9). Günümüzde ise, Orta Çaðdaki þeytan tarafýndan ruhun ve bedenin ele geçirilmesi düþüncesi farklýlaþmýþ, ancak etkilerini epilepsi hastalarýna çalýþtýklarý iþ yerlerinde yapýlan ayrýmcýlýk veya iþten atma þeklinde göstermeye baþlamýþtýr (10).…”