title: [Health-related quality of life in children with epilepsy in a Mexican hospital].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epilepsy is a chronic neurological syndrome that is accompanied by abnormal, synchronic and exaggerated discharges in the cerebral cortex. Epilepsy is inversely related to health-related quality of life (HRQL), although little has been published on this relationship in children in Latin America.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relation between epilepsy and HRQL in a group of schoolchildren aged 8-12 years who were treated in a paediatric hospital in Sonora, Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the HRQL of children diagnosed with epilepsy with respect to the HRQL of two control groups. The validated questionnaire Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory was used to evaluate HRQL. Differences were examined by means of an ANOVA test and the association between epilepsy and HRQL was modelled by means of multiple logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The children with epilepsy displayed the lowest HRQL score (62.4 ± 14.8) of the subjects studied and had 5.2 times as much risk of their HRQL deteriorating (95% confidence interval = 2.43-11.06) compared to healthy children. Deterioration was greater on the cognitive (54.6 ± 15.0) and emotional scales (55.9 ± 23.6). Polypharmacy, i.e. the concomitant ingestion of three or more drugs (p < 0.001), and the chronological progression of suffering (p < 0.001) are factors that significantly deteriorate the HRQL of children with epilepsy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Epilepsy gives rise to an overall deterioration in the HRQL of children, specifically in the cognitive and emotional spheres, which is related with the chronological progression of the disease and polypharmacy.
authors.forename: Ned M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Dávila-Ávila
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delgado-De la Mora
authors.forename: M Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Candia-Plata
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Sonora, Sonora, Mexico.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Hernández
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D019338:Polypharmacy; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants