Level of physical activity and aerobic capacity associate with quality of life in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

Epilepsy is more than seizures and includes a high risk of comorbidities and psychological disorders, leading to poor quality of life (QOL). Earlier studies have showed a sedentary lifestyle in people with epilepsy (PWE), which could contribute to poorer health and psychological problems. The purpose of the present study was to compare habits of physical activity (PA), aerobic capacity, and QOL between PWE and healthy controls in order to identify the necessity of intervention of habits and information on physical exercise (PE) and to better understand the importance of PE for PWE. The study included 38 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and 20 normal controls. Both groups answered the WHOQOL-Bref, which assesses the level of QOL, and IPAQ to evaluate the level of PA. In addition, they were submitted to a treadmill maximal cardiopulmonary effort test to identify physical capacity. The continuous variables were compared between groups by t-test and a general linear model, and the frequencies were compared by Chi-Square test through SPSS software. There was no difference in the level of PA between groups by questionnaire evaluation. However, there were significant differences in overall QOL, physical health, and level of PA in relation to work and physical capacity between groups; controls demonstrated better scores than PWE. Controls presented better physical capacity than PWE by cardiopulmonary effort test. According to intra-group analyses, PWE who were physically active had better QOL than inactive PWE. The study concluded that questionnaires about PE may not be the best instrument of evaluation, as demonstrated by the discrepancy of results compared to the validated objective cardiopulmonary evaluation of level of PA and physical capacity in this study.