Enhancement of Subjective Quality of Life Following Surgical Intervention in Patients With Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: A Depressive Symptom-Independent Outcome.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the impact of depressive symptoms on the subjective perception of quality of life in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) after surgical treatment for seizures.  Methods: A case-control study with DRE patients who received surgical treatment (n=19) and matched non-operated patients (n=23). We assessed the quality of life using the Subjective Handicap of Epilepsy (SHE) scale, alongside measuring depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 45 years, with females constituting 52.4% of the patients. A majority (73.8%) had been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Those who had undergone surgical intervention showed significantly enhanced performance across all quality-of-life domains on the SHE scale independently of depressive symptoms. The domains of "Work and Activity," "Physical Health," and "Self-Perception" displayed the greatest improvements, with the surgical group's averages outperforming the control group by factors of 1.87, 2.53, and 2.81, respectively. Influential differences impacting the quality-of-life scores included seizure frequency, the quantity of antiepileptic drugs utilized, and the incidence of convulsive seizures.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that surgical control of seizures in drug-resistant focal epilepsy is associated with improvement in quality of life across various domains, independently of the depressive symptoms of the patients.