Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy Compared to Their Healthy Peers: A Cross-Sectional Study

Epilepsy significantly impacts the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children and adolescents (CaA). This study aimed to assess HRQoL in pediatric epilepsy patients compared to their healthy peers, using both self- and proxy-reports, and to identify specific HRQoL domains affected by epilepsy.A single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted in Munich between October 2021 and June 2023. HRQoL was assessed in 139 patients aged 3 to 17 years with medically diagnosed epilepsy using age-adapted, validated KINDL© questionnaires, completed by the patients and one caregiver. The questionnaire comprised six subscales: "Physical Well-being," "Emotional Well-being," "Self-Esteem," "Family," "Friends," and "Everyday Functioning." Control values from healthy CaA aged 7 to 17 were drawn from the BELLA and KiGGS studies. Welch tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for statistical comparisons.Compared to their healthy peers, CaA with epilepsy reported significantly lower HRQoL overall, particularly in the subscales "Physical Well-being," "Emotional Well-being," and "Friends." No significant differences were observed in the "Family" subscale. Interestingly, self-reports revealed a trend toward higher "Self-Esteem" scores among CaA with epilepsy, though this did not reach statistical significance. No significant differences emerged between self- and proxy-reported total HRQoL scores.Epilepsy in CaA is associated with reduced HRQoL, especially in physical, emotional, and social domains. Stable family support can cushion some negative effects. In particular, the unexpectedly high results in the area of self-confidence should be the subject of future research.