Abstracts

The main aim of this investigation is to assess the possible cognitive changes in patients with epilepsy compared to controls over 5 years, and to investigate the clinical variables mainly implied in the mental alteration. 50 patients with focal epilepsy and 50 healthy controls were administered the same battery of comprehensive neuropsychological tests at baseline and 5 years later. Raw scores of all psychometric measures were converted to adjusted (age, gender, years of education) [italic]z[/italic] scores. Patients with focal epilepsy exhibited a significant impairment in substained attention compared to controls within 5 years, while the other cognitive domains did not show any important change. The worsening of attention was mainly related to the duration of epilepsy, the age of onset, a history of tonic-clonic seizures, and the level of education. There was no relation to the AEDs regimen. Our results could have important implications considering the influence attention can have on other cognitive functioning, on the quality of life and on the work status, in order to prevent further cognitive deterioration, especially in those patients more at risk to develop that decline.