[Influence of cognitive reserve on neuropsychological performance in epileptic patients].
OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to determine the influence of the cognitive reserve (CR) on the neuropsychological performance of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).


METHODS
Twenty-eight patients with TLE from a program of epilepsy surgery were assessed with a neuropsychological battery that included standard clinical measures of memory, attention, visual-construction skills and language. Raw scores adjusted according normative data were transformed to z scores. CR scores were based on a combination of educational level, occupational attainment and estimated premorbid intelligence.


RESULTS
There were no significance differences in socio-demographic and clinical features between the 2 groups. Epileptic patients with low CR showed significantly lower scores than patients with high CR, with regard to measures of verbal memory (p<0.039), attention (p<0.001), visual-construction skills (p<0.019), and phonetic (p<0.003) and semantic (p<0.005) fluency.


CONCLUSIONS
Epileptic patients with low CR showed greater neuropsychological morbidity than patients with high CR. These findings suggest that higher CR may decrease vulnerability or delay the clinical manifestation related to cognitive deficits following TLE.
Santamarina Pérez
Pilar
P
Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. psantamarina@vhebron.net
Corral
Montserrat
M
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests