This proposal is for a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award. The candidate's immediate goal during this award is to gain expertise in the design, implementation and analysis of epidemiologic studies in the field of epilepsy. The long-term career goals are to develop a large-scale epilepsy epidemiology program in an urban population that will serve as a basis for studies on incidence of epilepsy, epilepsy prognosis (including predictors of response to treatment), mortality, morbidity, genetics and economic costs of epilepsy. In order to attain these goals there are two major areas of focus for this award. The first area of focus is a formal program in epidemiology and biostatistics in the Environmental Health Department of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The candidate will take formal coursework in epidemiology and biostatistics with the anticipation that a Masters degree in epidemiology will be obtained. The second area of focus is the development of a research project in epilepsy epidemiology. The research portion of this award will examine health related quality of life (HRQOQ issues in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy and single seizures. Epilepsy is a chronic neurologic condition that may affect HRQOL by interfering with employment or driving. Patients take a daily dose of medication that may produce adverse effects. Patients with a new diagnosis of epilepsy or a single seizure may have a greater impact on HRQOL because of important changes in lifestyle that need to be made after the diagnosis is made. Prior HRQOL studies have been performed in patients with intractable seizures.
The specific aims of the project are to: 1) Assess initial HRQOL measures in a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed single seizures or a new diagnosis of epilepsy using a specific HRQOL in epilepsy inventory (QOLIE-89). 2) Prospectively examine for subsequent changes in HRQOL in this cohort of patients. 3) Examine for potential mechanisms that may be responsible for changes in HRQOL. 4) Determine if seizure recurrence negatively impacts HRQOL. This study will prospectively gather HRQOL data and neurologic histories and examinations in the cohort every four months for a minimum of two years. Mentors for this project are Drs. Joseph Broderick and Michael Privitera. Dr. Broderick has significant experience in developing stroke epidemiology projects and will provide the candidate the necessary guidance and support to develop his own research program. Dr. Privitera has led the epilepsy program at the University of Cincinnati since 1987 and will serve as a resource for clinical epilepsy. After the completion of this award, it is anticipated that the candidate will develop larger scale projects in the area of the epidemiology of epilepsy.
