E. Viteva
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To assess the impact of somatic comorbidities on stigma and the quality of life of Bulgarian patients with refractory epilepsy.
Methods: We have studied 92 adult patients with refractory epilepsy, without cognitive impairment, progressive somatic, neurological disease or recent seizures. All participants fulfilled a 3-item stigma scale and QOLIE-89 questionnaire.
Results: The study participants (61.96% men) had a mean disease duration 42.34 ± 1.28 years. Seventy three patients (77.17%) had focal epilepsy, 21 (22.83%) had generalized epilepsy. The etiology of the greatest percentage of participants (39.13%) was unknown, 35.87% had symptomatic epilepsy. We found stigmatization in 43.48% of the patients, 29.35% of them were severely stigmatized. There were concomitant somatic diseases in 40.22% of patients, in 16.31% – from more than one system. We proved that somatic comorbidities did not have influence on the overall score of QOLIE-89 P > 0.05 (F = 2.64) and on perceived stigma P > 0.05 (c2 = 2.36).
Conclusion: Somatic comorbidities in patients with refractory epilepsy do not correlate negatively with perceived stigma and does not influence the overall score of their quality of life.
Key words: comorbidities, stigma, refractory epilepsy, quality of life, impact.