title: Effects of antiepileptic drugs on reaction time, attention, and impulsivity in children.
abstract: Simple, choice, and complex reaction times, attention (variability of responses and omission errors), and impulsivity (commission and wrong-hand errors on choice and complex reaction time) were repeatedly measured in 111 epileptic children, aged 5 to 13 years, tested a total of 232 times. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were started, stopped, and adjusted throughout the study period, for a variety of clinical indications, and AED serum levels were monitored. The relationship of performance to AED serum level was examined. Overall the nonspecific effect of AEDs was minimal: higher total serum levels of AEDs correlated with more impulsive errors on complex reaction time testing only. In contrast, in 54 children receiving carbamazepine monotherapy, we found a dose-related beneficial effect upon reaction time, with higher serum levels associated with faster responses and fewer omission errors, particularly on complex reaction time. Phenobarbital caused minimal dose-related effects: only variability and impulsive errors increased with increasing serum levels, and only on one segment of the test (73 subjects).
authors.affiliation: Neurology Department, Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA 90054.
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chavez
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Guzman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005006:Ethnicity; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010988:Play and Playthings; D044469:Racial Groups; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants