Incident epilepsy in the cognitively normal geriatric population, irrespective of seizure control, impairs quality of life

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH: The geriatric population is the fastest-growing population in the United States and the impact of incident epilepsy on the cognitively intact geriatric population is not well-studied. Understanding how epilepsy affects the elderly is important to improve the quality of treatment and care for our aging population. This study sought to address the impact of incident epilepsy on the perceived QOL in cognitively intact elderly using the SF-36 questionnaire. METHODS: Nine hundred and twenty-seven participants were assessed from a community-based cohort. Based on a history of subsequent development of new-onset seizures, participants were divided into two groups, an incident seizure group that developed new-onset seizures after 65 years of age and the control group without incident seizures. Of this, six hundred eleven were analyzed with the SF-36 questionnaire after excluding for cognitive decline and inconsistent medical data. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found in 9 items on SF-36, involving perception of increased physical disability (p