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Self-assessment of well-being in a group of children with epilepsy
U Norrby1, J Carlsson, E Beckung
1Department of Rehabilitation, Göteborg University, College of Health and Caring Sciences, Box 111, Göteborg, SE-405 30, Sweden.
Insights
Children with controlled epilepsy report similar well-being to healthy peers. This study assessed quality of life in pediatric epilepsy patients, finding no significant differences in well-being.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Child Psychology
- Quality of Life Research
Background:
- Epilepsy affects approximately 5 in 1000 children, impacting various aspects of their lives.
- Understanding the well-being of children with controlled epilepsy is crucial for comprehensive care.
- Previous research has not extensively compared well-being in children with controlled epilepsy to healthy controls.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate and compare the well-being of children with controlled epilepsy to age-matched healthy children.
- To identify potential differences in well-being dimensions between these groups.
- To assess the psychometric properties of the well-being assessment tool used.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 31 children (9-13 years) with controlled epilepsy (excluding those with significant neurodeficits) was compared to 342 healthy children.
- A questionnaire comprising 39 bipolar adjectives and a visual analogue scale was administered to assess well-being.
- Statistical analysis was performed to compare well-being scores between the epilepsy and control groups, and between sexes.
Main Results:
- Children with controlled epilepsy demonstrated no significant difference in overall well-being compared to the healthy control group.
- No significant gender-based differences in well-being were observed, except for boys scoring higher in vitality.
- The study confirmed the psychometric properties of the assessment instrument for evaluating well-being in this population.
Conclusions:
- The well-being of children with controlled epilepsy appears comparable to that of their healthy peers.
- This finding suggests that effective epilepsy management can lead to a similar quality of life.
- Further research is planned to assess well-being in children with intractable epilepsy.
Abstract:
Epilepsy is common in childhood, the prevalence being about five per 1000 children. The purpose of this study was to assess well-being in children with controlled epilepsy (but did not include those with obvious neurodeficits such as mental retardation or cerebral palsy) and compare them with age-matched healthy children. The patient group comprised of 31 children, 12 boys and 19 girls, whereas the control population group consisted of 342 children, 176 boys and 166 girls who were all in good health. All children involved in the study were aged between 9-13 years. A questionnaire was distributed to the children to complete. It consisted of 39 bipolar adjectives and a visual analogue scale was employed. The results show that the group of children with controlled epilepsy did not differ significantly from the age-matched control group. There was no significant difference between the sexes except for the dimension of vitality, where the boys scored better than the girls. Thus the well-being of children with controlled epilepsy seems to be similar to that of children from a control population. The psychometric properties of the instrument were also assessed. An assessment of well-being in children with intractable epilepsy, using a similar approach, is in progress.