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The relationship between memory and quality of life is mediated by trait anxiety in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

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Abstract

Purpose

Memory deficits are very frequent in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, but they predict a small proportion of variance of their quality of life (QOL) in previous studies, possibly due to the lack of consideration of mediating factors of this relationship. This study aimed to examine whether trait anxiety mediates the relationship between memory and QOL in this population, controlling the influence of demographic and seizure-related factors.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 119 adults with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) underwent a neuropsychological evaluation, in which memory, anxiety, and QOL were assessed.

Results

In the total sample, better delayed memory had an effect on better QOL indirectly through lower trait anxiety (B = 0.13, SE = 0.06, p = 0.04, abcs = 0.13; κ2 = 0.18; PMind = 0.76). Additionally, delayed memory has not a direct association with QOL (B = 0.04, SE = 0.09, p = 0.64, Cohen’s f 2 = 0.005; PMdir = 0.24), and the total effect of delayed memory on QOL tended to reach statistical significance (B = 0.17, SE = 0.10, p = 0.08). The proposed mediation model yielded excellent fit (CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.0001, SRMR = 0.009, and χ2 (1) = 0.50, p = 0.48) and explained 38% of the variance of QOL.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that trait anxiety is an important factor in understanding the relationship between memory and QOL in patients with TLE, considering the influence of demographic and seizure-related variables, and may have relevant implications for decision-making in this population.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the project PID2020-118992RB-I00 financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Valencian International University, C/Pintor Sorolla, 21, 46002, Valencia, Spain

    Irene Cano-López

  2. IDOCAL/Department of Psychobiology, Psychology Center, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibañez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    Alejandro Lozano-García, Judit Catalán-Aguilar & Esperanza González-Bono

  3. Refractory Epilepsy Unit. Neurology Service. Member of ERN EPICARE, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Bulevar Sur, S/N Carretera de Malilla, 46026, Valencia, Spain

    Kevin G. Hampel & Vicente Villanueva

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  1. Irene Cano-López
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Contributions

EG-B and VV: conceptualization. IC-L, AL-G, JC-A, KG.H: methodology. IC-L: statistical analyses. IC-L: writing—original draft preparation. KG.H, EG-B and VV: writing—review and editing. EG-B and VV: funding acquisition. EG-B and VV: resources. EG-B and VV: supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Irene Cano-López.

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Cano-López, I., Lozano-García, A., Catalán-Aguilar, J. et al. The relationship between memory and quality of life is mediated by trait anxiety in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Qual Life Res 32, 739–747 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-022-03306-9

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