Thesis (PH.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty Of Medicine - Department Of Community Medicine

Epilepsy and its treatment have a direct bearing on major aspects of life styleDemographic , social and economic factors affect health status among epileptic children and adolescentsThe aim of this study was to evaluate some aspects of health status among epileptic children and adolescents mainly through quality of life scoringSubjects and methods : 150 epileptic patients with idiopathic epilepsy and 100 controls age and sex matched collected from kasr El - Aini out - patient clinic were includedSocial level scoring , IQ , identification of HRQoL score , clinical examination and laboratory tests for drug intoxication level and measuring the serum level of AEDs were doneResults : The mean scores of all domains of QoL were significantly lower in patients compared to controls (p < 001) Female patients had lower mean QoL scores as compared to males (p < 005) The educated group had better QoL scores except in stigma and anxietyPatients lived in rural areas had lower QoL scores except in social supportPatients with very low social level had significantly lower scores most QoL domains (p< 005) , while those with high social level had significantly lower score in a health perception (p< 005) Patients with focal fits had the best score in all QoL domains (p<001) Patients with 1ry generalized fits have the worst scores in almost all QoL domainsPatients with generalized fits only during sleep had much better scores in all QoL domains (p< 001) Patients with more frequent fits had lower scores in nearly all QoL domainsA better QoL scores were found in patients on monotherapy compared to patients on polytherapyPatients on polytherapy had higher toxicity score relative to monotherapy group (p<005) Positive correlation was found between QoL domains and IQ score except in stigma which showed a negative correlationThere was negative significant correlation between age and systemic toxicityA high significant negative correlation was found between toxicity scores and most QoL domains (p<001) Conclusions : Epileptic patients had lower mean scores of all domains of quality of life specially those with frequent fits , those on polytherapy and in patients with generalized fits

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