Calidad de vida en adultos mayores con epilepsia

Purpose: To evaluate the quality of life in patients 65 years or older withactive epilepsy in two hospitals in Bogot?, Colombia.Method: The clinical charts including the electroencephalogram anddiagnostic images of 120 patients were reviewed. Then the QOLIE-31and version 10 of Minimental Tests were used to establish the patient'squality of life score and his cognitive level. Global quality of life and sub-scales scores were correlated with quantitative variables using the Spear-man coefficient and differences between qualitative variables wereevaluated with non-parametric tests. To establish the variables thatexplained the quality of life, we used an ordinal regression model. Thisstudy was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of both hospitals.Result: 106 patients of both sexes with an age of 71.9€6.32 years werestudied. Epilepsy began at 61.92€16.5 years and only 4% of patients wereseizures free for the past two years. 88.7% had focal seizures and if anunderlying etiology was identified, cerebral vascular disease was pre-dominant. 71% were on Phenytoin monotherapy. Global quality of lifescore was 52.17€15.83. It was affected by number of seizures, Mini-men-tal test score, educational level, socioeconomic status and MRI abnor-malities. Other variables such as gender, housing site, job, type ofseizures, availability of AED and treatment with phenytoin influencedQOLIE subscales.Conclusion: Quality of life is an individual perception that could beinfluenced by many factors. Patients over 65 years of age with epilepsyusually show a poor quality of life not only related to the disease but alsoto their socioeconomic condition