ADOLESCENTS WITH ACTIVE OR INACTIVE EPILEPSY OR ASTHMA - A COMPARISONOF QUALITY-OF-LIFE

Purpose: We compared quality of life (QOL) in youth with inactive or a ctive epilepsy with that of a similar sample of youth with asthma. We explored 19 different dimensions in three domains (psychological, soci al, and school) and also determined differences related to illness sev erity and gender. Methods: Subjects were 228 adolescents (117 with epi lepsy and 111 with asthma). Data were collected from clinic records an d from the adolescents, their mothers, and their teachers through ques tionnaires and structured interviews. Data were analyzed by analysis o f covariance. Results: The analysis with all 19 QOL variables indicate d a significant difference between the total asthma and the total epil epsy samples (multivariate F = 3.36, p = 0.0001). Further evaluation r eflected differences between the epilepsy group and the asthma group o n 13 of the 19 QOL variables. When active and inactive epilepsy and as thma groups were compared, youth with active epilepsy were faring wors e than all other groups in 10 areas. Moreover, youth with inactive epi lepsy were faring worse than those with inactive asthma in four areas. Illness severity and sex differences were more strongly related to QO L in the epilepsy sample than in the asthma sample, Sex-severity inter actions suggested that girls with high seizure severity were most at r isk for QOL problems. Conclusions: Youth with active epilepsy generall y had the poorest QOL. Severe seizures and female sex were associated with more problems. Sex-severity interactions should be explored in fu ture research.