Influence of personality on sexual quality of life in epilepsy.

We prospectively investigated the effect of personality on sexual quality of life (SQOL) in 49 epilepsy patients (23 women). Fifteen patients had generalised epilepsy and 34 had focal epilepsy. SQOL was determined using the Derogatis Interview for Sexual Function - Self Report Inventory (DISF-SR) and personality was studied using the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI). Lower extraversion and female sex were factors associated with decreased SQOL, accounting for 22% of SQOL variance. Our results suggest that particularly introverted women with epilepsy may have an elevated risk of decreased SQOL.