Neuroticism and extraversion affect health-related quality of life of persons with epilepsy independently from depression and anxiety symptoms.

PURPOSE

We determined whether neuroticism and extraversion are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) independently from other psychological factors in persons with epilepsy.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 357 adults with epilepsy. The Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31), short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and Stigma Scale for Epilepsy were used. A hierarchical linear regression analysis and Sobel test were performed.

RESULTS

The final model explained 64.2% of the variance in the QOLIE-31. Demographic factors, entered in step 1 of the hierarchical linear regression, explained <1% of the variance. Social factors entered in step 2 and epilepsy-related factors in step 3 explained an additional 9.3% and 9.6% of the variance, respectively. Psychological factors, entered in the final step, explained 44.7% of the variance. Except for extraversion, all psychological factors assessed were independently associated with QOLIE-31 scores. When entered in step 1 of the regression analysis, neuroticism explained 36.1% of the variance, following only depression (49.0%) and anxiety (44.9%) according to the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale. Both neuroticism (B = -0.264, p = 0.001) and extraversion (B = 0.189, p = 0.009) had indirect effects on QOLIE-31 scores mediated by depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Neuroticism is the third most important factor for HRQoL of persons with epilepsy, following depressive symptoms and anxiety. Both neuroticism and extraversion indirectly affect HRQoL through depressive symptoms.