Premium
Pre‐ and Postoperative Socioeconomic Development of 151 Patients with Focal Epilepsies
Author(s) -
Lendt Michael,
Helmstaedter Christoph,
Elger Christian Erich
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1997.tb00071.x
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , epilepsy , neuropsychology , medicine , unemployment , vocational education , pediatrics , epilepsy surgery , psychology , psychiatry , population , cognition , pedagogy , environmental health , economics , economic growth
Summary: Purpose: We evaluated retrospectively the socio‐economic development of epilepsy patients after temporal or extratemporal epilepsy surgery and analyzed the relationship to clinical and neuropsychological data. Methods: 151 patients (from ages 11–65 years; mean postoperative followup: 3 years) replied to a structured questionnaire, which referred to objective data of the patient's educational and vocational development. Neuropsychological data were obtained from pre‐ and postoperative (1–year follow‐up) examinations. Results: The preoperative development data indicated that patients exposed to epilepsy at any delopmental stage had a higher prevalence of educational/vocational difficulties as compared with patients with a later onset of epilespy. Postopera‐tively, the integration of the formerly unemployed improved and the unemployment rate decreased from 33 to 16%. Out of those patients who had been schooled or who were employed, 79%‐91% made progress in development, or were at least able to keep their status. Only 2 of 14 patients, who had been retired early because of their epilepsy, returned to employment. In general, a deterioration of the socioeconomic status was significantly related to insufficient seizure control. A reemploy‐ment of patients who were formerly unemployed depended mainly on age and neuropsychological outcome. Conclusions: Our results suggest that early and successful surgical intervention improves or at least maintains the socio‐economic situation, especially the employment status.