Experiences, expectations, and fears of adolescents with epilepsy or bronchial asthma

Epilepsy and bronchial asthma are frequent in adolescents. Data on adolescents’ experiences with their disease and on their expectations for the future, however, is scarce. Patients of a university hospital aged 12 to 17 with epilepsy or bronchial asthma were interviewed based on a questionnaire. Forty-five patients with epilepsy and 47 with bronchial asthma were interviewed. Adolescents with epilepsy felt more impaired by their disease (median 2.5; Q25/Q75 0.75/3.0; 6-level Likert scales: 0 = not at all, 5 = very strong) than those with asthma (1.0; 0/3.0; p = 0.017). Seventy-nine patients (85.9%) had never used the Internet to gain information about their disease. Adolescents with epilepsy felt more limited in their career possibilities by their disease (2.0; 0/4.0) than those with asthma (0; 0/2.0; p = 0.001) and had a higher level of concern about passing their disease on to their children (3.0; 0/4.0) than their peers with asthma (1.5; 1.5/3.0; p = 0.016). Girls with epilepsy were more anxious (4.0; 0.5/5.0) than girls with asthma (0; 0/4.0) about complications of the disease regarding pregnancy (p = 0.019).

Conclusion: As well adolescents with epilepsy as with asthma described limitations of their daily life and concerns about the future.