Assessment of Quality of Life of Epileptic Patients in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Patients with epilepsy are at an increased risk of poor quality of life. PURPOSE: We aimed at assessing the quality of life and its determinants among epileptic patients at University of Gondar Referral Hospital (UoGRH), Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on epileptic patients on follow up at UoGRH from January 15 to April 15, 2017. Information including socio-demographic profile and diagnosis was extracted from medical records and patients. Quality Of Life In Epilepsy-10 (QOLIE-10) tool was used to measure the quality of life. Independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to look for factors associated with quality of life. The level of statistical significance was declared at P-value ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 354 patients were included in the study and mean age was 29.1 ± 11.7 years. The mean QOLIE-10 score was 19.85. One hundred ninety-four (54.8%) of participants had a good quality of life. Being illiterate, unemployment, and presence of co-morbid medical condition were associated with poorer quality of life. CONCLUSION: Nearly half of the participants had a poor quality of life. Patients with co-morbidity, illiteracy, and unemployment should be given special emphasis in order to improve their quality of life.