Self-reported quality of life in pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy: correlation with clinical variables and memory evaluation.

AIM: This work explores the effects of clinical variables on self-reported quality of life (QoL) in pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), correlating this information with results from the Quality of Life in Epilepsy questionnaire (QOLIE-31) and selective memory tests of the Barcelona Battery and the Rey-Osterrieth figure.

METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the records of 60 TLE patients and correlated patient variables (e.g. gender, aetiology; mesial TLE with hippocampal sclerosis [HS] versus lesional TLE, side of ictal onset, age, age at onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, and use of AEDs) with selective memory test scores and self-reported QoL.

RESULTS: Right ictal onset was associated with lower emotional well-being scores. MTLE-HS patients had lower QOLIE-31 scores for seizure worry, social function, overall QoL, energy/fatigue, cognitive function, and obtained a lower overall score, compared to those with lesional TLE. Older age at epilepsy onset was associated with worse emotional well-being, energy/fatigue, medication effects, and seizure worry outcomes. Higher seizure frequency and older age at time of evaluation were associated with lower cognitive function scores. Generalised seizures were associated with lower scores based on the variables: seizure worry, overall quality of life, emotional well-being, and cognitive function. Regarding memory tests, only visuospatial memory correlated positively with cognitive function score. Patients with MTLE-HS underwent evaluation for pharmacoresistant epilepsy, on average, 10 years later than those with lesional TLE.

CONCLUSIONS: MTLE-HS, right-sided epileptogenic zone, late onset, and higher seizure frequency were associated with worse QoL. Objective testing revealed specific memory deficits that were not reflected in self-reported QoL scores.