QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN EPILEPSY

The purpose of this article is to review the concept of quality of life in epilepsy. Quality-of-life issues have garnered considerable interest in the broader health-care literature, and varying models and methods of assessment have been proposed. Concern regarding the impact of epilepsy on patients' psychosocial status has been long-standing, but a systematic examination of the effects of epilepsy in terms of the contemporary quality-of-life literature has not been attempted. It is hypothesized that the outcome of such a review would yield a research agenda of clinical and theoretical relevance. To that end, the health-services literature is first briefly reviewed to examine issues related to the definition and components of quality of life and to identify the pertinent methodological issues relating to its assessment. Next, a brief historical review of previous epilepsy research concerning what would now be called quality-of-life issues is presented, followed by direct comparison of a current model of quality of life to what is known about the effects of epilepsy and its treatment. This comparison results in the identification of: (a) several areas of quality of life in epilepsy that remain to be investigated and clarified, (b) methodological issues and concerns that need to be addressed in future epilepsy research, and (c) issues related to the treatment and prevention of quality-of-life problems in epilepsy.