Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsEdge :

2008 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com) -- " The aim was to study the influence of patients' age, frequency and type of seizures, disease duration, number of AEDs and use of benzodiazepines on the quality of life of patients with epilepsy (see also Epilepsy). Patients and methods We consecutively identified 223 patients with epilepsy who attended the epilepsy outpatient clinics at three university hospitals in Greece," scientists in Greece report.

"Quality of life was evaluated by QOLIE-31. One-way analysis was used to assess the association of the studied factors and QOLIE-31 subscales. After checking for co-linearity, we performed multivariate stepwise linear regression analysis with all the variables that on univariate analysis showed a statistically significant effect on each subscale of QOLIE-31 to explore which of the studied factors affect independently on QOLIE-31 scores. Of a total of 223 patients, 118 (52.95%) were men; mean age was 35.18 +/- 13.22; mean duration of the disease was 13 years; 58 (26%) patients had generalized seizures, 93 (41.7%) had PS, and 72 (32.3%) of the patients had PsG; 85 (38.1%) were on polytherapy and 38 (17%) were taking benzodiazepines. Independent factors affecting QoL were: seizure frequency (Overall QoL P = 0.0001, Seizure worry and Emotional well-being P< 0.0001, Energy/fatigue and Social functioning P = 0.01); duration of the disease (Overall QoL and Energy/fatigue P = 0.01, Seizure worry P = 0.008, Cognitive functioning P< 0.0001); polytherapy only for the Emotional well-being P< 0.0001; and use of benzodiazepines (Overall QoL, Energy/fatigue, Social functioning P = 0.002, Cognitive functioning P< 0.0001). Our findings suggest that QoL in epileptic patients might be affected, in addition to the other established factors (high frequency of seizures and polytherapy), by the daily use of benzodiazepines as adjunctive therapy," wrote C. Piperidou and colleagues, Democritus University.

The researchers concluded: "Change of medical strategy concerning this medication may lead to improving the QoL of these patients."

Piperidou and colleagues published their study in Quality of Life Research (Association of demographic, clinical and treatment variables with quality of life of patients with epilepsy in Greece. Quality of Life Research, 2008;17(7):987-996).

For additional information, contact C. Piperidou, Democritus University of Thrace, University of General Hospital, Dept. of Neurology, Alexandroupolis, Greece.

The publisher's contact information for the journal Quality of Life Research is: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands.

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