Article published by Science Daily
A new study suggests that people with epilepsy associated with head injuries, especially the type not well controlled by medication, are more likely to have other health conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), back pain and headache that may result in them reporting a lower quality of life. The research is published in the April 6, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Other conditions included chronic conditions like high blood pressure, sleep disorders, and behavioral health conditions like anxiety.
“Our study suggests that people with epilepsy associated with traumatic brain injuries have complex health states that frequently include other conditions that are also associated with both traumatic brain injury and epilepsy and that may result in a greater chance of having both poor quality of life and lower life expectancy,” said study author Mary Jo Pugh, PhD, of the VA Salt Lake City, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “We believe a deeper understanding of the factors affecting quality of life in people with post-traumatic epilepsy may help us identify those at the greatest risk and then identify effective treatments.”
The study looked at 529 military veterans with epilepsy who had an average age of 41. They were divided into four groups: 249 with epilepsy that was neither drug resistant nor associated with head injury that served as a control group, 124 with drug resistant epilepsy not associated with a head injury, 86 with epilepsy associated with a brain injury, and 70 with drug resistant epilepsy associated with a brain injury.