Cognition and quality of life in patients with poststroke epilepsy: A case-control study

Though seizures are a common complication after stroke, only little scientific evidence is available about the impact of epilepsy on cognitive functioning and quality of life in patients who have had a stroke. Therefore, we assessed these items in a case-control study.

We studied 36 patients with poststroke epilepsy (PSE) and 36 matched patients who have had a stroke without epilepsy using parts of the FePsy (the computerized visual searching task (CVST) for central information processing speed and a reaction time test), the mini-mental-state examination (MMSE), the EuroQol, the stroke-adapted Sickness Impact Profile questionnaire (SA-SIP-30), the Barthel index, the modified Rankin scale, and the National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS).

Patients with PSE had significantly lower scores on the CVST and MMSE. Generic quality of life was the same in patients with poststroke epilepsy and patients with stroke only, however, the SA-SIP-30 showed a lower disease-specific quality of life in patients with poststroke epilepsy. The Barthel index showed no difference between both groups, but both the modified Rankin scale and the NIHSS were significantly higher in patients with poststroke epilepsy, indicating more disability and neurological impairment in patients with PSE.

We found that PSE relates to impaired cognitive functioning, a lower disease-specific quality of life and more disability and neurological impairment. This underlines the importance of further clinical research in this field. This article is part of the Special Issue "Seizures & Stroke".