Quality of life among caregivers of children with epilepsy: A cross-sectional study at Eastern Nepal.

Objective: To assess the quality of life among caregivers of children with epilepsy in a tertiary care center of eastern Nepal.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among primary caregivers of children with epilepsy, who accompanied their child in child neurology clinic. Consecutive sampling was done, and 106 respondents were interviewed. Data were collected using World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) scale and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were applied.

Results: Mean WHOQOL-BREF score was 82.25 {standard deviation (SD) ±12. 11}. Transformed scores (0-100) for each domain were 57.98 ± 14.55 in physical, 55.87 ± 13.16 in psychological, 53.12 ± 13.42 in social, and 52.52 ± 13.04 in environmental domain. Mean score for overall perception of quality of life (QOL) was 2.71 ± 0.79 and was 3.12 ± 0.75 for overall perception of health. Living below poverty line ( = .03) and poor seizure control status of children ( = .46) were significantly associated with lower total QOL score. Living below poverty line was significantly associated with low social relationship ( = .003) and environment domain (<0.001) scores.

Significance: Epilepsy has a multifaceted impact on the lives of affected people. Caring children with epilepsy is associated with enormous psychosocial effects on parents and family members. Caregivers' QOL may affect the treatment and outcome of epilepsy in children. Given the consideration to scarcity of this kind of literature in Nepalese context, this study was conducted.