What about us? Siblings of children with epilepsy

Rationale: It is known that epilepsy has a severe impact in the quality of life of the patients; however, it affects the lives of all family members. The psychosocial repercussions of epilepsy are often of greater significance than the seizures themselves. Methods: This was a prospective study, conducted from January 2005 to December 2005 at the pediatric epilepsy clinic of our University Hospital. Parents were interviewed by one of the authors according to a structured questionnaire about the impact of epilepsy in the life of the siblings of children with epilepsy. Results: One hundred and twenty-seven children, siblings of 78 patients with epilepsy were evaluated. From the 127 siblings of children with epilepsy, 60 were girls and 67 were boys. Ages ranged from 5 to 18 years old (mean = 11.7 years). After the diagnosis of epilepsy, the siblings had only negative feelings toward the disease, mostly sadness and fear. Conclusion: Our data showed that the impact of epilepsy in the lives of siblings of children with epilepsy is much more severe than previously suspected. (C) 2006 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.