A comparison of self-reported quality of life between patients with epilepsy and neurocardiogenic syncope.

Epilepsy and neurocardiogenic syncope share a final common pathway of loss of consciousness and consequent social disruption. We compared 52 patients with syncope, 96 with epilepsy and 100 controls. Epilepsy and syncope patients expressed significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression and reported significantly less good quality of life (QoL) compared with controls. There were no significant differences on any of the QoL parameters measured between the syncope and epilepsy patients. These findings suggest the main contributor to poor QoL in epilepsy may be the unpredictable loss of control that is the hallmark of the condition.