Abstract
Objective: To examine the quality of life of children with epilepsy and to identify the demographic, disease related, and behavioral and emotional functioning variables in the prediction of quality of life of children with epilepsy.Method: Forty three children aged 4 to 15 years (Mean=10.3 years) with epilepsy were recruited from the outpatient services of the Department of Pediatrics, of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India. Quality of life was measured by Impact of Epilepsy Schedule, a 39 items parent reported questionnaire and child's emotional and behavioral functioning at home was assessed by the Childhood Psychopathology Measurement Schedule.Results: Majority of the parents expressed major concerns regarding seizures, treatment by anticonvulsants, present and future problems for the child and problems in parenting. Nearly 40% of the children had psychopathology scores in the clinically significant maladjustment range. Step-wise multiple regression analysis revealed that the psychopathology scores and mother's education accounted for 39% of the variance in the quality of life scores.Conclusion: Children with epilepsy have a relatively compromised quality of life and focusing simply on control of seizures may not address the full range of child's emotional and behavioral difficulties.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ettinger AB, Weisbrot DM, Nolan EE, Gadow KD, Vitale SA, Andriola MRet al. Symptoms of depression and anxiety in pediatric epilepsy patients.Epilepsia 1998; 36: 595–599.
Margalit M, Heiman T. Anxiety and self-dissatisfaction in epileptic children.Int J Soc Psychiatry 1983; 29: 220–224.
Austin JK. Comparison of child adaptation to epilepsy and asthma.J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 1989; 2: 139–144.
Malhi P, Singhi P. Effects of family functioning on psychosocial adaptation in children with epilepsy.J Dev Beh Pediatr 1999; 20: 401.
Scott DF. Psychiatric aspects of epilepsy.Br J Psychiatry 1978; 132: 417–430.
Austin JK, Risinger MW, Beckett LA. Correlates of behavior problems in children with epilepsy.Epilepsia 1992; 33: 1115–1122.
Pianta RC, Lothman D. Predicting behavior problems in children with epilepsy: Child factors, disease factors, family stress and child-mother interaction.Child Deve 1994; 65: 1415–1428.
Seidenberg M, Beck N, Geisser M, Giordani B, Sackellares JC, Berenet Set al. Academic achievement of children with epilepsy.Epilepsia 1986; 27: 753–759.
Sturniolo MG, Galleti F. Idiopathic epilepsy and school achievement.Arch Dis Child 1994; 70: 424–428.
Austin JK, Smith MS, Risinger MW, McNelis AM. Childhood epilepsy and asthma: Comparison of quality of life.Epilepsia 1994; 35: 608–615.
Testa MA, Simonson DC. Assessment of quality of life outcomes. N Engl J Med 1996; 336: 835–840.
Lehman AF. The well being of chronic mental patients.Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983; 40: 369–373.
Duncan J. Medical factors affecting quality of life in patients with epilepsy. In Chadwick D, ed.Quality of Life and Quality of Care in Epilepsy; Oxford: Alden Press, 1990.
Hoare P. The quality of life of children with chronic epilepsy and their families.Seizure 1993; 2: 269–275.
Sabaz M, Cairns DR, Lawson JA, Nheu N, Bleasel AF, Bye AME. Validation of a new quality of life measure for children with epilepsy.Epilepsia 2000; 41: 765–774.
Cramer JA, Camfield C, Carpay H, Helmstaedter C, Langfitt J, Malmgren Ket al. Principles of health-related quality of life: Assessment in clinical trials.Epilepsia 2002; 43: 1084–1095.
Devinsky O, Westbrook L, Cramer J, Glassman M, Perrine K, Camfield C. Risk factors for poor health related quality of life in adolescents with epilepsy.Epilepsia 1999; 40: 1715–1720.
Sherman EMS, Slick DJ, Connolly MB, Steinbok P, Camfield C, Eyrl KLet al. Validity of three measures of health-related quality of life in children with intractable epilepsy.Epilepsia 2002; 43: 1230–1238.
Carpay HA, Vermeulen J, Stroink H, Brouwer OF, Peters AC, Van Donselaar Cet al. Disability due to restrictions in childhood epilepsy.Dev Med Child Neurol 1997; 39: 521–526.
Malhotra S, Varma VK, Verma SK, Malhotra A. A childhood psychopathology measurement schedule: Development and standardization.Indian J Psychiatry 1988; 30: 325–332
Achenbach TM, Edelbrock CS. Manual for the child behavior checklist and revised child behavior prolife. Burlington: University of Vermont, 1983.
Gambhir SK, Kumar V, Singhi PD, Goel RC. Public awareness, understanding and attitudes towards epilepsy.Indian J Med Res 1995; 102: 34–38.
Chung MY, Chang YC, Lai YH, Lai CW. Survey of public awareness, understanding and attitudes towards epilepsy in Taiwan.Epilepsia 1995; 36: 488–493.
Pal DK, Chaudhury G, Sengupta S, Das T. Social integration of children with epilepsy in rural India.Soc Sci Med 2002; 54: 1867–1874.
Pal DK, Chaudhury G, Das T, Sengupta S. Predictors of parental adjustment to children's epilepsy in rural India.Child Care Health Dev 2002; 28: 295–300.
Mathews WS, Barabas G, Ferrari M. Emotional concomitants of childhood epilepsy.Epilepsia 1982; 23: 671–681.
Ferrari M, Mathews WS, Barabas G. The family and the child with epilepsy.Fam Process 1983; 22: 53–59.
Austin JK. Childhood epilepsy: child adaptation and family resources.J Child Adolesc Psychiatr. Ment health Nurs 1988; 1: 18–24.
Rutter M, Graham P, Yule W. A neuropsychiatric study in childhood.Clin Dev Med 1970; 3: 35–36.
Ronen GM, Streiner DL, Rosenbaum P, Canadian Pediatric Epilepsy network. Health related quality of life in children with epilepsy. Development and validation of self-report and parent proxy measures.Epilepsia 2003; 44: 598–612.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malhi, P., Singhi, P. Correlates of quality of life with epilepsy. Indian J Pediatr 72, 131–135 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02760697
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02760697