title: Cognitive functioning over 3 years in community dwelling older adults with chronic partial epilepsy.
abstract: Little is known about cognitive functioning of older adults with chronic partial epilepsy. We examined cognitive performance of this epilepsy patient group over 2-3 years. Seventeen older adults with epilepsy and 17 healthy older adults were administered measures of overall cognition and verbal memory at baseline and 2-3 years later. At baseline, older adults with epilepsy performed below controls on overall cognition and verbal memory (p's<0.001). These deficits generally remained stable at follow-up, although executive control appeared to decline (p<0.05). Older adults with epilepsy showed a failure to benefit from practice on a verbal memory measure (p=0.017). Older adults with epilepsy demonstrated cognitive deficits that generally are not progressive. A failure to benefit from repeat exposure to a Delayed Recall task could indicate learning deficits. These patients may also progressively lose executive control, possibly as a result of accelerated aging.
authors: Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35233, United States. rlgriffith@uabmc.edu <rlgriffith@uabmc.edu>
authors: H Randall
authors: HR
authors: Griffith
authors: Roy C
authors: RC
authors: Martin
authors: Jennifer K
authors: JK
authors: Bambara
authors: Edward
authors: E
authors: Faught
authors: Laura K
authors: LK
authors: Vogtle
authors: Daniel C
authors: DC
authors: Marson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D017029:Epilepsy, Complex Partial / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants