Abstracts

Hauser et al. and Hesdorffer et al. (Epilepsia 1998; 39(Suppl. 6):222) found that ADHD and depression were both more frequent in and a possible risk factor for new-onset seizures in children. We looked for evidence of these disorders in a sample of children with new-onset seizures and asked if the presence of symptoms of attention and internalizing problems predicted recurrence of seizures. The sample consists of 224 children with new-onset seizures. The comparison group was 103 children with asthma whose symptoms had recently worsened. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) within 6 weeks of the first recognized seizure or change in asthma symptoms. Parents were asked to base behavior ratings on the six months prior to the first recognized seizure or change in asthma symptoms. For this analysis, we used the internalizing score, a combination of anxiety/depression, withdrawal, and somatic complaints, and the attention problems syndrome score. Logistic regression analyses, controlling for demographic variables, were used to compare children with seizures to children with asthma and children with recurrent seizures to children without additional seizures on mean CBCL T-scores and dichotomized data for at risk and clinical CBCL categories. At baseline, the children with seizures had higher mean attention scores (p=0.04) and were more likely to be in the at-risk category for attention problems (p=0.01) than children with asthma. In contrast, the children with asthma had higher mean internalizing scores (p[lt]0.01) and were more likely to be in the at-risk category for internalizing problems (p[lt]0.01) than the children with seizures. Comparing the children with no additional seizures to those with at least one recurrent seizure 3-24 months after the first seizure, we found a borderline significant association between the total attention problems T-score and recurrent seizures (p=0.05) but no association between total internalizing score and recurrent seizures. The children with recurrent seizures were significantly more likely to be in the clinical category for attention problems at baseline than were the children with no additional seizures (17.9% vs. 5.0%, p=0.01). There was no significant association between recurrent seizures and internalizing problems. We confirmed the increased frequency of attention problems in children with new-onset seizures and found that attention problems at onset predict recurrent seizures. We did not find an association between internalizing problems and recurrent seizures. We suspect that seizures and attention problems may be due to a common underlying central nervous system dysfunction. (Supported by Grant PHS R01 NS22416 from NINDS)