The relationship between personality characteristics and the quality of life in patients with epilepsy

Introduction: Identification of effective factors in the quality of life (QOL) of patients with epilepsy is important in improving their quality of life. Regarding this, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality characteristics and QOL in patients with epilepsy. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 epileptic patients referred to Neurology Clinic of Ali-ibn Abi Talib Hospital in Zahedan, Iran in 2015. The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) and Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaires were used to determine the personality characteristics and QOL scores, respectively. Results: The mean of QOL score was 28.94±4.58. Age, gender, marital status, education level, and duration of epilepsy had no significant correlation with the QOL. The QOL showed a negative correlation with openness to experience and neuroticism. However, this variable had a direct correlation with conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion. There was a significant relationship between the predictor variables (extraversion and neuroticism) and the criterion variable (QOL). Therefore, extraversion and neuroticism can be considered as the predictors of the QOL. Conclusions: The extraversion and neuroticism seem to be two predictors of the QOL in the epileptic patients. Accordingly, whereas the patients with high levels of neuroticism had low QOL, this value was higher in those with high levels of extraversion.