Happiness in adult patients with epilepsy

Impairment of quality of life (QoL) is greater in epilepsy than in other chronic diseases, however, little is known about the perception of happiness in adult patients with epilepsy (PWE). Objective: To evaluate PWE's perception of happiness and relate it to demographic and clinical aspects and to the perception of QoL. Methodology: The scores of the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) were related with demographic and clinical aspects and with the scores on the QOLIE-31 and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) of 60 PWE, with a significance level of p<0.05. Results: 52.9% were female, mean age of 6.1±3.8 years The SHS score was 4.87±1.3 and the QOLIE-31 score was 59.9±16.6. Higher SHS scores were significantly associated with males (T test; p=0.008), the lowest occurrence of seizures (ANOVA; p=0.018), the absence of psychiatric comorbidity (T test; p=0.004) and lower HAM-D scores (Sperman's correlation; -0.268; p=0.011). There was a positive correlation between SHS and QOLIE-31 (domains and total score). Conclusion: There were significantly higher SHS scores in males, suggesting better subjective well-being. Higher SHS scores were observed in PWE with lower seizure occurrence/epilepsy severity, in those without psychiatric disorders, without depression in the HAM-D and with higher scores in the QOLIE-31, suggesting that greater happiness is associated with better QoL.