title: Neuropsychological impairment and altered thyroid hormone levels in epilepsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neuropsychological impairment is a common problem in epilepsy which interferes with the quality of life of patients. Similarly, thyroid hormone levels have been observed to be abnormal in patients with epilepsy on various treatments. This study aimed to ascertain any possible correlation between neuropsychological performance and thyroid hormone levels among epilepsy patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thyroid hormone levels, indices of neuropsychological performance and social adaptation of 43 epilepsy patients were compared with those of age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Epilepsy patients exhibited significantly (p < 0.001) lower scores on attention, memory, constructional praxis, finger tapping time, and verbal intelligence quotient (i.q.) when compared with controls. Their T3, T4 and Free T3 levels were significantly lower; and TSH and Free T4 levels were significantly higher than that of controls. There was no statistically significant correlation between the indices of neuropsychological performance and thyroid hormone levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We did not observe any correlation between neuropsychological impairment and thyroid hormone levels among patients with epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Padmanabhan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sankara Sarma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013963:Thyroid Hormones