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Children with epilepsy against their healthy peers and those with headaches: Differences-similarities
Dorota Talarska1, Michał Michalak2, Patrycja Talarska3
1Department of Preventive Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland.
Insights
Children with epilepsy experience significant challenges in bio-psycho-social functioning, with their quality of life closely resembling that of children with headaches. This study highlights differences in perceived functioning across age and gender groups.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Child Psychology
- Quality of Life Research
Background:
- Chronic diseases like epilepsy significantly impact children's bio-psycho-social functioning.
- Assessing quality of life in pediatric populations is crucial for understanding disease burden.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the functioning of children with epilepsy to healthy children and those with headaches.
- To evaluate self-reported and mother-reported quality of life using the PedsQL™ 4.0.
- To identify specific areas of difficulty for children with epilepsy.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving 209 children with epilepsy, 173 with headaches, and 182 healthy controls.
- Utilized the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL™ 4.0) for assessment.
- Data collected through self-reports from children and reports from their mothers.
Main Results:
- Healthy children reported the highest quality of life across all domains.
- Children with epilepsy and those with headaches showed significantly lower quality of life compared to healthy children (p<0.05).
- School Functioning was the most affected area for children with epilepsy, while Emotional Functioning was rated lowest by healthy children.
Conclusions:
- Children with epilepsy reported functioning levels similar to those with headaches.
- Quality of life perceptions varied by age and gender in children with epilepsy and healthy children.
- Moderate agreement was observed between children with epilepsy and their mothers regarding individual functioning aspects.
Introduction:
Epilepsy, like most chronic diseases, affects bio-psycho-social functioning of children and adolescents. The aim of this work was to assess functioning of children with epilepsy compared with the group of healthy children and those with headaches carried out by children themselves and their mothers.
Material And Methods:
The study included 209 children with epilepsy and 173 children with headaches and 182 healthy students and their mothers. The research tool was Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL™ 4.0) questionnaire.
Results:
Quality of life of healthy children was rated the highest in all areas by both children and mothers. In younger and older children, difference was demonstrated between the assessment of the quality of life of healthy children and the ones with epilepsy or healthy children and the ones with and headaches in all areas of the PedsQL™ 4.0 questionnaire (p<0.05). Children with epilepsy had the most difficulties in subscale School Functioning in their own and their mothers' opinion. Healthy children and their mothers rated the subscale Emotional Functioning lowest.
Conclusions:
The functioning of children with epilepsy in the assessment of children and their mothers was the closest to the functioning of children with headaches. Quality of children's life assessment by children with epilepsy and by healthy children differed between the group of girls and boys and between older and younger children in all PedsQLTM 4.0 questionnaire areas. A medium response compatibility between children with epilepsy and their mothers was shown in individual questions.
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