Objective: The goal of this study was to assess everyday memory complaints in a large cohort of patients with epilepsy treated with antiepileptic drugs and to determine demographic, clinical, and emotional state factors associated with patients' self-perception of memory disturbances.
Methods: This cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out in routine clinical practice using the Questionnaire of Memory Efficiency (QME) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).
Results: Six hundred sixty-one patients were recruited. The time since epilepsy diagnosis was 17.3 years (SD=12.5); the number of seizures in the past year 13.8 (SD=4.8); the proportion of patients free of seizures in the last year 42.5%; the proportion of patients with partial seizures 73.2%; and the proportion of patients on monotherapy 56.3%. Total QME score was 110.0 (SD=18.6). Depression and anxiety scores and polytherapy explained 38.7% of the QME variance.
Conclusions: Subjective memory functioning in this cohort of patients with epilepsy was relatively good. Complaints expressed by these patients are explained mainly by the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms.