Clinimetric analysis of treatment objectives and clinical status: individualized treatment in epileptic patients

The achievement of treatment objectives for patients with epilepsy, as defined by the treating clinicians, was compared with scoring of clinimetric indexes. Patients with the treatment objectives "complete seizures remission" or "treatment impairment/benefit balance" were included in this study. The clinimetric indexes were also compared with a clinical status rating, as assessed by the clinician. No correlation was observed between clinimetric indexes and achievement of the treatment objective. The difference noted in outcome of treatment objectives and index scores may have resulted because the indexes were group-intended and the clinician's judgment was individual-oriented. The clinician's assessment of clinical status of the patient did correlate with the composite index of impairments (CII), however, a clinimetric scale for severity of impairments caused by epilepsy. The advantage of the CII over the clinical status rating is that the CII is constructed with objective data and shows the cause of change observed during follow-up.