The Relationship of Depression and Health-related Quality of Life in Patients With Epilepsy

Abstract

Background: Depression is prevalent in patients with epilepsy, which is associated with low health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Our aim was to study the relationship between depression and HRQOL in epilepsy. Methods: We enrolled 140 epilepsy patients. Depression was assessed by Hamilton depression scale (HAMD), and HRQOL by SF-36 scale. We divided patients into 2 groups: G1- mild/no depression (HAMD 0-16, n=89, mean age-32), and G2 - patients with moderate/severe depression (HAMD>16, n=51, mean age - 39.4). T-test was used for statistics. Findings: Results for each SF-36 domain (D) in the groups (G1/G2): D1 Physical functioning - 77.3/39.3, D2 Role limitations due to physical health - 48.9/10.6, D3 Role limitations due to emotional health - 52.6/8.1, D4 Fatigue - 59.4/31.6, D5 Emotional well-being - 60.2/34.8, D6 Social functioning - 75.5/36.7, D7 Pain - 76.1/36.3, D8 General health – 53.8/29.9. Our results show that means of all SF-36 domains in G2 were significantly higher than in G1 (p<0.001). Discussion: We found that the higher depression rates are in epilepsy the lower HRQOL is. Depression influences not only emotional domains, but also physical and social functioning.