Abstracts

A considerable literature documents the presence of cognitive impairment in children with epilepsy following years of recurrent seizures. In contrast, information is limited regarding the cognitive function of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy, an important issue relevant to understanding the impact of epilepsy on cognitive development and course. This study compared the neuropsychological status of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy (duration [underline][lt][/underline] one year) to healthy controls. We also examined the relationship between age of seizure onset and cognition. The participants included 43 children with newly diagnosed epilepsy (24 localization-related, 18 generalized, 1 unclassified) , ages 8-18 years (27 male, 16 female), and 32 matched controls (12 male, 20 female). All participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation within one year of diagnosis of epilepsy (M=10.3, SD=4.2). There were no significant group differences between controls and the epilepsy group on age and education. Children with newly diagnosed epilepsy were impaired on measures of executive functioning (problem solving, attention), sensorimotor abilities (crossed hand tactile localization, motor dexterity), language (naming ability), perceptual skills (line bisection), and processing speed compared to controls (all p[apos]s[lt].05). Within the epilepsy group there were very few significant difference between children with localization related versus generalized syndromes, with only a trend of poorer attention in children with localization-related epilepsy. Furthermore, earlier age of onset of recurrent seizures was associated with poorer performance on measures of attention, and line bisection (all p[apos]s [lt].05). The results are consistent with previous reports indicating that cognitive difficulties can be observed in newly diagnosed children with epilepsy. The cognitive effects are seen across several cognitive domains (executive function, language, visuoperception, and sensorimotor ability) and may be exacerbated in association with earlier age of onset (attention, sensorimotor skills). These baseline findings may have important implications for understanding the relative impact of epilepsy and its effects on cognition, as well as for understanding the impact of epilepsy on subsequent cognitive development. (Supported by NIH grant NS044351 (BH, MS) and MO1 RR03186 (GCRC).)