Abstracts

Rationale: Memory complaints are common in patients with epilepsy (Butler 2008) and there is a gap between patients and their practitioners in understanding concerns related to memory issues (McAuley 2010). Further, there is some evidence that subjective memory complaints do not always equate to objective memory deficits (Witt 2012). This led us to examine the memory relationship in a sample of patients from the outpatient epilepsy clinic. Our research question is will patients who report (subjective) memory complaints have a corollary deficit on an objective measure of memory? Methods: Adult epilepsy patients who were able to complete surveys on their own were recruited for this cross-sectional study. As part of a larger project, patients completed a battery of tests including a subjective and an objective memory test. The subjective test was a set of six memory-related questions extracted from the validated and widely used Quality of Life in Epilepsy-89 questionnaire (QOLIE-89). The QOLIE-89 (Mem) score ranges from 0 to 100% with lower scores representing poor subjective memory. Objective memory was measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R). The latter is a brief assessment of verbal learning and memory (recognition and recall). The HVLT-R tasks include three learning trials. HVLT-R total recall score is the sum of three learning trials and can range from 0 to 36. Lower scores indicate poor objective memory. The HVLT-R has high test-retest reliability, its validity has been well established and it is recommended by the Epilepsy Common Data Elements group. Pertinent patient demographics were recorded.Results: Seventy two patients were recruited (63% female). Their mean ( STD) age was 38.2 14.9 years and the mean duration of epilepsy was 18.9 15.4 years. Thirty three patients (46%) were on antiepileptic drug monotherapy and 26 patients (36.1%) had experienced a seizure in the last month. The mean QOLIE-89 (Mem) score [subjective memory] was 59.4% 21.3 (min=10, max=100). The mean HVLT-R total recall score [objective memory] was 23.7 5.2 (min=12, max=33). The linear relationship between the memory scores is described as y = 0.4886x + 47.767. Study limitations include, but are not limited to a cross-sectional study, usage of single tools to assess subjective and objective memory and a convenience sample of patients from one epilepsy center.Conclusions: Both subjective and objective memory was variable among our patient sample. There was not a strong linear relationship between subjective and objective memory. The latter fact indicates other aspects play a role in this complex relationship.