Abstracts

Children with epilepsy are at risk for behavioral problems. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been reported more frequently than any other problem. Even though children with epilepsy have higher prevalence rates of ADHD, it remains unclear if they are at risk for being under-identified and under-treated for the disorder. We sought to determine whether the proportions of children with epilepsy were identified as having ADHD equally by the school and by measures incorporating DSM criteria., Participants were 86 children with chronic epilepsy. Children were assessed at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months. The mean age at 24 months was 13.73 (SD = 1.97), age of seizure onset was 6.25 (SD = 3.64), 50% were females, and 15.1% were left-handed. Parents completed an educational services survey, on which they indicated whether the child was currently classified by their school as having ADHD (yes/no). In addition, parents completed the Child Symptom Inventory (CSI) or Adolescent Symptoms Inventory (ASI) symptom checklists with severity scores that may be used for diagnosis of ADHD based on DSM IV criteria., McNemar[apos]s test was conducted to determine whether there were similar rates of ADHD classification by the CSI/ASI and educational services survey over the 24 months. Forty eight percent of the children were classified as ADHD by CSI/ASI criteria, whereas only 29% were classified as ADHD in the educational services survey (McNemar[apos]s chi-square=8.33, p-value=.004). There were 27 total discrepancies between the classification types. Of these 27, 6 (22%) were children not meeting the CSI/ASI criteria who were classified as ADHD by the survey (false positives), and 21 (78%) were classified as ADHD by CSI/ASI but were not classified as ADHD in the schools (false negatives)., These findings suggest that ADHD is a common problem for children with epilepsy and careful monitoring is important. It appears children with epilepsy might be at risk for under-identification of ADHD when symptoms are present. Hence, children that could benefit from additional educational services might not have access to these important resources. , (Supported by PHS R01 NR04536 from NIH/NINR to J.K.A.)