Quality of life for patients with psychogenic nonepilepsy seizures in comparison with age- and gender-matched patients with epilepsy - Cross-sectional study.

AIMS: Patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES), and age- and gender-matched patients with epilepsy (PWE) who utilized an out-patient service were compared regarding quality of life (QoL) and self-reported symptoms of depression. Additionally, the impact of miscellaneous clinical variables including symptoms of depression on QoL in patients with PNES and PWE in real-world settings was assessed.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Adult patients who had a diagnosis of definite or documented PNES based on LaFrance's criteria (PNES group, n = 62), or of epilepsy based on results of clinical and EEG procedures (Epilepsy group, n = 61) were enrolled. To assess QoL and evaluate depression, the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-10 (QOLIE-10) and Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E), respectively, were administered.

RESULTS: Comparisons between the groups revealed a shorter duration of illness and fewer number of attacks in patients with PNES as compared to the Epilepsy group (p < 0.0001; p = 0.0003, respectively). There was no significant difference between the groups revealed by the QOLIE-10 (p = 0.141), while the patients with PNES tended to have higher NDDI-E scores (p = 0.068). Multiple regression analysis of QOLIE-10 results in the PNES group revealed that NDDI-E score was the sole significant contributor (β = -0.425 p = 0.001). In contrast, NDDI-E score as well as attack frequency had a significant impact on QOLIE-10 results in the Epilepsy group (β = -0.283 p = 0.026; β = -0.272 p = 0.031, respectively).

CONCLUSION: In PWE and patients with PNES who utilized an out-patient service, QoL did not differ significantly between those groups. For treating PNES, psychosocial factors may be a more appropriate indicator of therapeutic goal than attack frequency.