Sociodemographic correlates of health-related quality of life in pediatric epilepsy

Abstract In most chronic conditions, better health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic majority status, with disadvantaged groups typically reporting lower HRQOL. In 163 children with intractable epilepsy, we evaluated the relationship betw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epilepsy & behavior 2008-01, Vol.12 (1), p.96-101
Main Authors: Sherman, Elisabeth M.S, Griffiths, Stephanie Y, Akdag, Sare, Connolly, Mary B, Slick, Daniel J, Wiebe, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anticonvulsants - supply & distribution
Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use
Child
Children
Epilepsy
Epilepsy - drug therapy
Epilepsy - psychology
Ethnicity
Female
Health Status
Health Status Indicators
Health-related quality of life
Humans
Male
Neurology
Pediatrics
Quality of Life
Regression Analysis
Socioeconomic Factors
Socioeconomic status
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Summary:Abstract In most chronic conditions, better health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic majority status, with disadvantaged groups typically reporting lower HRQOL. In 163 children with intractable epilepsy, we evaluated the relationship between HRQOL and a broad spectrum of demographic variables (SES, parental education, gender, age, marital status, family size, and ethnic and linguistic status), in relation to known neurological and behavioral correlates of HRQOL. No demographic variable was found to be related to child HRQOL, except for marital status, where children from divorced/separated parents had lower HRQOL. However, marital status was not uniquely predictive of HRQOL when neurological and behavioral variables were taken into account. Exploratory analyses indicated that children of separated/divorced parents were more likely to have early epilepsy onset, lower adaptive/developmental levels, and worse seizure frequency, suggesting that severe epilepsy may be a risk factor for marital stress. In sum, contrary to research in other chronic conditions, sociodemographic variables in pediatric epilepsy were weak predictors of HRQOL in comparison to neurological and behavioral variables. The results are discussed with respect to epilepsy-specific determinants of HRQOL.
ISSN:1525-5050
1525-5069
DOI:10.1016/j.yebeh.2007.07.009