ADAPTATION AND EVALUATION OF THE LIVERPOOL SEIZURE SEVERITY SCALE ANDLIVERPOOL QUALITY-OF-LIFE BATTERY FOR AMERICAN EPILEPSY PATIENTS

The Liverpool Seizure Severity Scale (LSSS) and the Liverpool Quality of Life (LQOL) battery were developed in Great Britain to assess the s everity of seizure symptoms and the impact of epilepsy on patients' qu ality of life. The scales have been validated on British patients, but have not been validated for use with American patients. The objective s of this study were to adapt the scales to the American population an d to evaluate their reliability and validity. After modifications reco mmended by focus groups with patients and epilepsy specialists, the sc ales were administered to a sample of 90 epilepsy patients who had exp erienced seizures within the previous 4 weeks. Comparisons of patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (n = 58) and partial seizures (n = 32) revealed significant differences on 12 of the 20 items on the LSSS as well as the total score. None of the six LQOL subscales (nega tive drug effects, positive drug effects, affect balance, sense of mas tery, life fulfilment and impact of epilepsy) distinguished patients w ith different seizure types but five of the six subscales were signifi cantly correlated with seizure severity. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were adequate for both the LSSS and LQOL. Fina lly, five of the six LQOL scales were significantly correlated with in dependent measures of mental health, physical health and role function ing. (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers