An instrument to assess patient satisfaction with epilepsy treatment

Patient satisfaction with antiepileptic drugs is an important component in the management of epilepsy. This study aimed to develop a visual analog scale (VAS) to evaluate patient satisfaction with the effectiveness and tolerability of the current antiepileptic treatment and to identify the most appropriate threshold scores of patient dissatisfaction predictive of a decision to change the antiepileptic drugs.

This observational study was conducted among patients with epilepsy consulting a neurologist in France. Two anonymous questionnaires were used, one for patients and one for neurologists. The patients' questionnaire assessed satisfaction using a four-point Likert scale and a 10-centimeter VAS. The neurologists' questionnaire evaluated whether the neurologist decided to change the current treatment or not. The determination of the threshold scores predictive of patient dissatisfaction correlated with a change of the medication was performed using analyses of receiver operating characteristic curves. Visual analogue scale scores collected from the patient questionnaire were tested against the responses collected from the neurologist questionnaire.

Five hundred eighteen patient questionnaires and five hundred seven neurologist questionnaires were completed. For the satisfaction with effectiveness and tolerability, the mean VAS scores were 6.7±2.8 and 7.0±2.8, respectively and were, respectively, 6.9±1.7 and 7.0±1.6 for patients who declared to be satisfied with their current antiepileptic drugs and were, respectively, 3.4±1.7 and 3.3±1.9 for those who declared to be dissatisfied. The neurologist decided to change the current antiepileptic drugs in 41.1% (n=208) of the cases principally because of inadequate effectiveness. With respect to the receiver operating characteristic curves, a VAS threshold of 6 would correctly predict the decision to change the current antiepileptic drugs with sensitivity and specificity values over 73% for both effectiveness and tolerability.

The VAS developed in this study can help patients to evaluate their antiepileptic drugs and to facilitate timely treatment modification when the current treatment is unsatisfactory.