Racial differences in patient expectations prior to resective epilepsy surgery.
We assessed the nature and frequency of preoperative expectations among patients with refractory epilepsy who were enrolled in a seven-center observational study of epilepsy surgery outcomes. At enrollment, patients responded to open-ended questions about expectations for surgical outcome. With the use of an iterative cutting-and-sorting technique, expectation themes were identified and rank-ordered. Associations of expectations with race/ethnicity were evaluated. Among 391 respondents, the two most frequently endorsed expectations (any rank order) were driving (62%) and job/school (43%). When only the most important (first-ranked) expectation was analyzed, driving (53%) and cognition (17%) were most frequently offered. Nonwhites endorsed job/school and cognition more frequently and driving less frequently than whites (all P0.05), whether expectations of any order or only first-ranked expectations were included. Elucidating the reason for these differences can aid in the clinical decision-making process for resective surgery and potentially address disparities in its utilization.
Baca
Christine Bower
CB
Department of Neurology, University of California at Los Angeles, 911 Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. cbower@mednet.ucla.edu
Cheng
Eric M
EM
Spencer
Susan S
SS
Vassar
Stefanie
S
Vickrey
Barbara G
BG
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004651:Employment; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult