Buck D, Jacoby A, Baker G A, Ley H, Steen N
Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Qual Life Res. 1999 Dec;8(8):675-85. doi: 10.1023/a:1008916326411.
To examine between-country differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adults with epilepsy across a large number of European countries.
Self-completion postal questionnaire sent to large sample of adults with epilepsy, recruited from epilepsy support groups or epilepsy outpatient clinics. The questionnaire was developed in English and translated. Back-translations from each language were checked for accuracy. The questionnaire sought information on clinical and socio-demographic details, and contained a number of previously validated scales of psychosocial well-being (the SF-36, the perceived impact of epilepsy scale, and a feelings of stigma scale).
Controlling for socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, significant between-country differences were found in scores on the perceived impact of epilepsy scale, on seven of the eight SF-36 domains, and on the feelings of stigma scale. Respondents in Spain and the Netherlands fared consistently better, whilst those in France fared poorest, compared to those in other countries in terms of the various HRQOL measures used.
Several possible reasons for the cross-cultural differences in HRQOL are proposed. Clearly, there is no single explanation and there may also be reasons which we have overlooked. This study emphasises the need for further comprehensive research in order that the position of people with epilepsy in different countries be more thoroughly understood in the social context.
研究众多欧洲国家中成年癫痫患者健康相关生活质量（HRQOL）的国家间差异。
向从癫痫支持小组或癫痫门诊招募的大量成年癫痫患者发送自我填写的邮政问卷。问卷以英文编制并进行翻译。对每种语言的回译进行准确性检查。问卷收集临床和社会人口学详细信息，并包含一些先前验证过的心理社会幸福感量表（SF-36、癫痫感知影响量表和耻辱感量表）。
在控制社会人口学和临床特征后，发现癫痫感知影响量表得分、SF-36八个领域中的七个领域得分以及耻辱感量表得分存在显著的国家间差异。在使用的各种HRQOL指标方面，与其他国家相比，西班牙和荷兰的受访者表现始终较好，而法国的受访者表现最差。
提出了HRQOL跨文化差异的几个可能原因。显然，没有单一的解释，也可能有我们忽略的原因。本研究强调需要进一步进行全面研究，以便在社会背景下更全面地了解不同国家癫痫患者的状况。
