Photo Credit: Thitaree Sarmkasat

New research was presented at AES 2023, the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, held December 1-5. This is the first of 5 studies presented during the conference that PW has selected to highlight.

While previous research has examined HRQOL in focal epilepsy, determinants of HRQOL in these patients have not been assessed comprehensively, according to Joyce Matsumoto, MD. Dr. Matsumoto and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review that included 25 studies to address this issue. They identified a range of HRQOL determinants, including mood, epilepsy-related factors, and cognition. The review revealed that temporal lobe epilepsy was the most common subset of focal epilepsy studied. Researchers found depression was associated with reduced HRQOL 86% of the time in 14 studies. Eight studies examined anxiety, and seven found significant associations with lower HRQOL. Five studies assessed employment, and all found it to be an important consideration for HRQOL. Regarding factors related to epilepsy, 14 studies assessed seizure burden but only reached significance when dichotomized into seizure freedom versus no seizure freedom; however, it did so in every study that used this categorization (n=4). “Comprehensive understanding of the modifiable determinants of HRQOL is relevant to patient health and well-being and can inform everyday clinical care [and] interventional and observational studies,” Dr. Matsumoto and colleagues wrote.