Socioeconomic disparities in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures and their caregivers.
Epilepsy Behav
; 110: 107160, 2020 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32493610
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
There is no information on disparities of patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) and their caregivers. The objective of this exploratory study is to compare patients with PNES and caregivers with low socioeconomic status (SES) with those of high SES for disparities in healthcare use, seizures, medication adverse effects, psychosocial impact, and knowledge about epilepsy.METHODS:
Patients with PNES and caregivers completed surveys about the aforementioned outcomes during their Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) admission. Associations were evaluated using SES as a binary independent variable and the patient- and caregiver-related outcomes as dependent variables.RESULTS:
Forty-three patients and 28 caregivers were recruited. The majority of patients were on average 36â¯years old, single women, unemployed, with some college education. The majority had PNES for 8â¯years averaging 20 seizures per month and were maintained on ≥2 antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) prior to their EMU admission. Most caregivers were first-degree relatives with a mean age of 43â¯years, married employed women of higher educational attainment, typically cohabitating with the patients. Low SES patients showed poorer knowledge about epilepsy (pâ¯<â¯0.0001) and higher anxiety levels (pâ¯=â¯0.03). Conversely, high SES patients demonstrated poorer social functioning (pâ¯=â¯0.04). High SES caregivers showed higher caregiving burden (pâ¯=â¯0.01).CONCLUSION:
There are noteworthy disparities in patients with PNES of different SES and their caregivers. Identification of those disparities is a critical step in the creation of appropriate interventions to address them.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtornos Psicofisiológicos
/
Convulsões
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Fatores Socioeconômicos
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Cuidadores
/
Disparidades em Assistência à Saúde
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
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Prevalence_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article