Next week is National Epilepsy Week and this year the theme is epilepsy and employment. People with epilepsy are more likely to be unemployed than people who do not have epilepsy. Here is an example of a recently published study, which aimed to identify the factors associated with being employed or unemployed among people with epilepsy.

Drs Bautista and Wludyka sent a questionnaire to 262 patients at a specialised epilepsy centre in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

They found that people with epilepsy who were in employment at the time of the survey tended to:

• have a higher annual family income;
• attach a greater emotional and psychological importance to being in work; and
• be less afraid of discrimination due to their epilepsy in the workplace.

Other features of people with epilepsy that tended to be associated with being employed (though not as much as the three above) included: being younger, being white, having a higher level of education, having a higher income, taking fewer AEDs, having no other medical conditions that could interfere with work, and having previous work experience.

The results are interesting because they indicate how important it is for people with epilepsy to believe that they can work and that they can be successful in the workplace. Most of the other factors, such as having more controllable epilepsy (indicated by being on fewer AEDs), are to be expected. Some factors mirror the general population, for example, that higher educational level is associated with employment. The study was published in Epilepsy & Behavior in February 2007.