A comparison of quality of life in adolescents with epilepsy or asthma using the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36)

Summary Purpose To compare the quality of life (QOL) in adolescents with epilepsy or asthma. Methods Eighty-five epileptic adolescents, 81 adolescents with asthma and 71 normal controls were recruited from the Affiliated Children's Hospital of FuDan University from June, 2007 to December, 2007. These adolescents received the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (MOS F-36) in order to evaluate QOL. Results Although the onset age for adolescents with asthma was younger ( P  = 0.032), there were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between adolescents with epilepsy and asthma. The results of MOS SF-36 demonstrated the following: (1) For the adolescents with epilepsy, the total QOL score and sub-scores for 8 items were significantly different between epilepsy patients and healthy controls, and the total QOL score and sub-scores for 4 items were significantly different between controlled and uncontrolled epilepsy groups; (2) for the adolescents with asthma, the total QOL score and sub-scores for 4 items were significantly different between asthma patients and healthy controls, and the total QOL score and sub-scores for 4 items were significantly different between controlled and uncontrolled asthma groups; (3) the QOL of adolescents with epilepsy was poorer than that of the adolescents with asthma regardless of the remission stage and disease stage; (4) the emotional and mental health of adolescents with epilepsy was inferior to that of adolescents with asthma. Conclusions The QOL of adolescents with chronic paroxysmal diseases including epilepsy and asthma deserves close attention and should be included as a key parameter when evaluating disease status.