Epilepsy patients: health status and medical consumption.

Objective: To study the health status and medical consumption of outpatients with active epilepsy in comparison with the general population. Design: Descriptive population study (multi-stage random sample). Setting: Structured questionnaire. Patients: Thirty-nine epilepsy patients compared with a general population of 12,975. Results: Epilepsy patients revealed poorer health, a higher mean complaint score (5.3 versus 3.7, P<0.05), a higher score on the General Health Questionnaire (P<0.05), a somewhat higher score on the biological problem list (BIOPRO) (1.8 versus 1.4, P>0.05), less active sports engagement (16% versus 39%, P<0.01), more fatigue (46 vs 29%, P<0.05), dizziness (33 vs 10%, P<0.01), nervousness (28 vs 18%, P>0.05), sleep disturbance (23 vs 15%, P>0.05) and excitability (33 vs 15%, P<0.01) when compared with the general population. The BIOPRO showed problems in epilepsy patients on specific items related to self-confidence (P<0.001). Epileptic patients do not show more absence due to illness, from work, school or at home (15 vs 18%, P>0.05) and/or more problems at work or in the family when compared with the general population. Almost half of epilepsy patients had consulted a specialist in the past 2 months (46 vs 23% of the general population, P<0.001). Epilepsy patients consulted the family physician's assistant considerably more often (2.3 versus 0.7, P<0.001). One-third of epilepsy patients consulted an alternative healer in the past 5 years versus 14% in the general population (P