Quality of life before and after epilepsy surgery: Age is just a number

In a rapidly aging population, it is critical to analyze if the quality of life (QOL) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and the change in it after epilepsy surgery is dependent on the age at operation.

A prospective registry-based retrospective cohort study including adults with a completed pre- and post-surgery Quality of Life in Epilepsy 10 (QOLIE-10) survey. Multivariable linear regression models analyzed the baseline, postoperative, or change in QOLIE-10 score.

We analyzed 416 patients (51% females) with the mean age of 39.6 (SD = 12.6) years at the time of surgery, including 100 (24%) individuals 50 years or older. The younger and older adults (dichotomized as <50 vs. ≥50 and <60 vs. ≥60) had comparable pre- and post-surgery QOLIE 10 total scores. The change in total and individual QOLIE-10 items score were comparable between the groups as well. Within group improvements in total QOLIE-10 score post-surgery was in younger as well as older groups. The linear regression models showed that age, regardless of parameterization (linear or dichotomized), was not related to pre-surgery, post-surgery, and change in QOLIE-10 score, both before and after adjustment for covariates. The change in QOLIE-10 score did not show correlation with age, whether seizure freedom or relative seizure reduction was used in the model.

With QOL, before or after surgery, being independent of a patient's age, our findings suggest that well-selected older adults and the elderly should be offered epilepsy surgery without concern for an inferior improvement in QOL compared to their younger counterparts.