Cognitive impairment in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
OBJECTIVE
Cognitive impairments are frequent consequences of epilepsy, with intellectual ability reportedly being lower in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies than in the general population. However, neuropsychological investigations have been rarely performed in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). We aimed to quantify the cognitive function in JME patients using various neuropsychological tests.


METHODS
We compared cognitive function in 27 JME patients with that in 27 healthy volunteers using tests examining cognitive performance, such as the verbal and visual memory, frontal function, attention, IQ score, and mood. In the JME group, we examined risk factors for cognitive function such as age, sex, family history, education level, age at seizure onset, seizure frequency, EEG abnormality, disease duration, and previous intake of antiepileptic drugs.


RESULTS
Verbal learning was significantly lower in JME patients than in controls, and attention and verbal fluency were impaired in JME patients compared with controls. However, general intellectual ability and mood did not differ between the groups. Early onset of seizure and long duration of disease were closely related to impaired cognitive function.


CONCLUSIONS
JME patients may exhibit impaired cognitive function, in terms of memory and execution, despite having normal intelligence and mood.
Kim
Sun-Young
SY
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
Hwang
Yang-Ha
YH
Lee
Ho-Won
HW
Suh
Chung-Kyu
CK
Kwon
Soon-Hak
SH
Park
Sung-Pa
SP