Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2004 Apr;10(2):225-232.

Children with Epilepsy: Quality of Life and Management

• Shin YH

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the overview of current medical treatments of childhood epilepsy in Korea and to review several recent nursing researches related to quality of life problems, especially psychological functioning in children with epilepsy and the stress of the family. The prognosis of childhood epilepsy has been improved considerably and about 80% of patients can now be expected to achieve complete seizure control by the antiepileptic drug treatment. Even for the intractable epilepsy, with the combination of ketogenic diet program and antiepileptic drug therapy or surgical treatment, the prognosis became very much better than before. The majority of research has reported that children with epilepsy were experiencing quality of life problems. They are at risk for impaired functioning, compared to either general population controls or to other chronic illness groups such as asthma and diabetes. The ultimate goal of providing care to children with epilepsy is to control seizures while facilitating an optimal quality of life for the child as well as the family. Recommendations are included for future research and intervention programs for children, parents and our society.

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Child*
Chronic Disease
Drug Therapy
Epilepsy*
Humans
Ketogenic Diet
Korea
Nursing Research
Parents
Population Control
Prognosis
Quality of Life*
Seizures
Child Health