Marital status of patients with epilepsy: factors and quality of life.

Purpose: The study investigated how marital status relates to clinical aspects and quality of life (QOL) in patients with epilepsy (PWE).

Method: The clinical data and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31) scores of 252 PWE were regressed against their marital status with a significance level of 5% (p < 0.05).

Results: Logistic regression for single and married PWE revealed that singles had more abnormalities in the neurological examination (p = 0.029) and earlier seizure onset (p < 0.001), while for married and divorced PWE revealed the latter more psychiatric comorbidities (p = 0.002) and longer disease duration (p = 0.011). Regarding QOL score, linear regression showed that psychiatric comorbidity was the only factor (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The marital status of PWE is negatively associated with clinical aspects of epilepsy.