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Quality of life among patients with epilepsy in Nigeria: predictors and barriers to routine clinical use of QOLIE-31

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Abstract

Purpose

To determine the factors predicting poorer quality of life (QOL) among patients with epilepsy attending an out-patient clinic in a Nigerian tertiary hospital, and reflect on the barriers to successful adoption of a structured QOL instrument into routine clinical practice.

Methods

Two-hundred and seventy patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy attending the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta, Nigeria were recruited. Sociodemographic and clinical information were collected using a proforma. QOLIE-31 was administered to measure QOL.

Results

The mean (SD) QOLIE-31 scores were 77.98 (13.32), with 15.2%, 74.1%, and 10.7% of the respondents classified as low, moderate, and high QOL, respectively. Factors associated with poorer QOL include seizure frequency, depression, and family history of epilepsy.

Conclusion

Quality of life is an important outcome measure for people with epilepsy and it focuses on the individual’s subjective assessment of their well-being. Although useful for clinical management of patients with epilepsy, the uniqueness of the practice settings and the limitations of clinical practice in a developing country pose challenges to successful adoption of structured QOL instrument into routine clinical practice.

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Data availability

Available on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study reports no external funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropsychiatric Hospital Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

    Temitope Ogundare, Timothy O. Adebowale & Obinna A. Okonkwo

  2. Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Temitope Ogundare

Authors
  1. Temitope Ogundare
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  2. Timothy O. Adebowale
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  3. Obinna A. Okonkwo
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Correspondence to Temitope Ogundare.

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Conflict of interest

Temitope Ogundare, Obinna Okonkwo, and Timothy Adebowale declare they do not have any conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The participants consented to the publication of the study findings.

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Ogundare, T., Adebowale, T.O. & Okonkwo, O.A. Quality of life among patients with epilepsy in Nigeria: predictors and barriers to routine clinical use of QOLIE-31. Qual Life Res 30, 487–496 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-020-02643-x

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