Creativity at Age 4.5 Years in Children of Mothers with Epilepsy vs. Children of Healthy Mothers in the MONEAD Study
Abstract number :
2.162
Submission category :
4. Clinical Epilepsy / 4E. Women's Issues
Year :
2022
Submission ID :
2204459
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/4/2022 12:00:00 PM
Published date :
Nov 22, 2022, 05:25 AM
Authors :
Kimford Meador, MD – Stanford University; Morris Cohen, EdD – Pediatric Neuropsychology International; David Loring, PhD – Emory University; Abigail Matthews, PhD – The Emmes Company; Carrie Brown, MS – The Emmes Company; Chelsea Robalino, MStat – The Emmes Company; Laura Kalayjian, MD – University of Southern California; Elizabeth Gerard, MD – Northwestern University; Evan Gedzelman, MD – Emory University; Julie Hanna, MD – Minnesota Epilepsy Group; Jennifer Cavitt, MD – University of Cincinnati; Maria Sam, MD – Wake Forest University; Sean Hwang, MD – Northwell Health; Alison Pack, MD – Columbia University; Jeffrey Tsai, MD – University of Washington; Page Pennell, MD – University of Pittsburgh
This abstract has been invited to present during the Clinical Research platform session
Rationale: Fetal exposure to antiseizure medications (ASMs) can produce adverse neurodevelopmental effects. Typically, such effects are assessed using measures such as general intelligence, verbal abilities or additional educational needs. However, abilities related to creativity are not assessed by these measures. Here, we examine creativity at age 4.5 years-old in children of women with epilepsy (WWE) vs. healthy women (HW) in our ongoing Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (MONEAD) study.
Methods: The MONEAD study is a prospective, observational, multi-center investigation of pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant WWE and HW were enrolled < 20 weeks gestational age. Children were assessed at age 4.5 years-old using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-F) which is a standardized assessment of creative thinking. Scores for age-based creativity index were compared between children of WWE to children of HW via a linear regression model adjusted for the same covariates as our prior 3yo analyses of verbal abilities, which were mother's IQ, education level, age at enrollment, weeks gestation age at enrollment, post-birth average anxiety score, and child's ethnicity and sex.
Results: There were 241 children of WWE and 65 children of HW who received the TTCT-F at age 4.5yo. The adjusted least squares mean TTCT-F creativity index scores did not differ between children of WWE (adjusted least squares mean = 89.5 (95% CI 86.7, 92.3)) vs children of HW (adjusted least squares mean = 92.0 (95% CI 86.4, 97.6)). See Figure 1 for scatter plot of scores and Table 1 for full model summary. Note that the WWE cohort were primarily on monotherapy (73%), and 82% of monotherapies were lamotrigine or levetiracetam. Further, 42% of the polytherapies were on dual therapy with lamotrigine and levetiracetam.
Conclusions: Our findings at 4.5yo in MONEAD show no differences in creative abilities in children of WWE vs those of HW. These findings are consistent with a lack of differences in other cognitive abilities at age 3 yo. In the future, the MONEAD study will assess cognitive and behavior at age 6 yo. Neurodevelopmental effects of many ASMs remain unexplored or uncertain.
Funding: Please list any funding that was received in support of this abstract.: NIH, NINDS and NICHD #U01-NS038455.
Clinical Epilepsy