Validation of the Serbian version of the Liverpool Adverse Events Profile of antiseizure therapy in patients with epilepsy

Abstract

The Liverpool Adverse Event Profile (LAEP) is a useful instrument in assessing the consequences of adverse events in patients using antiseizure medication. The LAEP scale has been validated in several languages to date. The aim of our study was to validate the LAEP scale in the Serbian language (SVLAEP). Validation of the SVLAEP scale was conducted by translating the original English version into the Serbian language and backtranslated into the English language. The translation was accepted when the two versions of the text were compatible. The questionnaire is then given to a group of patients with epilepsy treated with a stable dose of antiseizure medication. For the assessment of the quality of life and depression, we used the Serbian version of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (SVQOLIE-31) and the Serbian version of the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (SVNDDI-E). From a total of 166 patients, 118 patients were included, and the remaining 48 were excluded because of other comorbidities and using other psychotropic drugs. Internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.87) and test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.80) were satisfactory. The SVLAEP and SVQOLIE-31 had a strong negative statistical correlation (rs = − 0.73; p < 0.001). The SVLAEP and SVNDDI-E final scores had a positive moderate correlation (rs = 0.52; p < 0.001). A moderate negative statistical correlation was found between SVNDDI-E and SVQOLIE-31 (rs = − 0.56; p < 0.001). Our study showed that the LAEP scale is a useful indicator for the frequency of the adverse events in antiepileptic drug (AED) usage, despite a minor overlap with the symptoms of depression. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.