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The impact of a single seizure on health status and health care utilization
B A Dworetzky1, D B Hoch, A K Wagner
1Boston VAMC, Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts, USA. Dworetzky.Barbara_A@Boston.VA.Gov
Purpose:
To assess the health status of patients after a single seizure.
Methods:
We compared single-seizure patients (SS) with patients who had well-controlled epilepsy (WC), and uncomplicated hypertension (HT). Patients were adults screened from emergency and outpatient units of two urban teaching hospitals using predefined criteria. The 83 patients (SS, 30; WC, 29; HT, 24) were interviewed by phone about functional status (SF-36), comorbid illness, cause of illness, number of visits to health providers, and drug side effects.
Results:
No significant differences were found among groups for health status, SF-36 domain, or occurrence of drug side effects. SS patients had significantly lower scores on vitality (p < 0.03) and a trend toward lower role physical function (p < 0.07) compared with age-adjusted population norms. SS reported more visits to health providers than WC or HT, and the number of visits remained high at interview 1 year later. Patient knowledge of the "reason" for the seizure was not associated with health status or number of visits.
Conclusions:
Health status of patients within 1 year of a single seizure is similar to that of patients with well-controlled epilepsy or hypertension, but SS patients have greater health care utilization.