Abstracts

Cognitive dysfunction in chronic drug-resistant focal epilepsy has long been recognized. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate neuropsychological performance of the patients at the time of the diagnosis of epilepsy.
The cognitive performance of 199 patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy was studied before starting the antiepileptic drug treatment. The patients are consecutive patients from our hospital district of 250 000 inhabitants, fulfilling the criteria of age between 15 to 65 years and of full intelligence quotient (IQ) [ge] 85. Patients with progressive diseases as well substance abuse were excluded. Altogether 77 patients with only a single epileptic seizure and a group of 47 healthy volunteers served as control groups. The patients and controls were tested with comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Differences between three groups were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance with Scheffe[rsquo]s post hoc test. P [lt] 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The mean age and education between groups did not differ. Although subjects with IQ[lt] 85 were excluded, the mean full IQ and verbal IQ were lower in the epilepsy patients than in the single seizure group or in the healthy controls. Performance in the object naming test, verbal fluency as well as in immediate and delayed recall of a story were poorer in the patients than in the single seizure group and in the controls. Immediate and delayed recall of a word list and performance in letter cancellation were poorer both in the epilepsy group and in the single seizure group when compared with controls.
Patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy as a group perform poorer in variety of cognitive tests used to assess general intellectual ability, verbal ability, verbal learning and memory and attention. Follow-up of these patients will show whether cognitive performance at the time of diagnosis can be used as surrogate marker for the prognosis of epilepsy.
[Supported by: Kuopio University Hospital EVO grant.]