Abstracts

Epilepsy has a significant impact on patient[rsquo]s normal life even in children. The purposes of this study were to: 1) reveal the incidence of various behavioral and psychosocial disturbances, 2) identify the factors related to various behavioral and psychosocial disturbances, and 3) provide better mental, behavioral and psychosocial outcomes in epileptic children. Clinical interviews of 827 children with epilepsy (aged 2 to 18 years) at the 37 pediatric epilepsy centers were performed. The validated Korean version of neuropsychological assessment batteries including Korean Child Behavior Check List (KCBCL), Yale Children[rsquo]s Inventory (YCI), Family Environmental Scale (FES), Piers-Harris Children[rsquo]s Self Concept Scale(PCSCS) and Children[rsquo]s Depression Inventory (CDI) were used. T-test, Anova, and multiple regression were used to analyze data. The epileptic children with symptomatic etiology, longer duration of seizure, more frequency of seizures and larger number of antiepileptic drugs (AED), and presence of associated neurologic disorders revealed the higher incidences of internalizing, social and withdrawn behavior problems in KCBCL and of attention, aggressiveness and learning problems in YCI. However, patients with longer seizure duration, larger numbers of AEDs and presence of associated neurologic disorders showed the low self-concepts in PCSCS and higher incidence of depression in CDI. We identified several risk factors for various behavioral and psychosocial disturbances in patients with epilepsy. These results provide the information for the correlations between neuropsychological problems and epilepsy in children that may be helpful in their neuropsychological supports, as well as drug treatment. (Supported by Janssen Korea Co.)