42 Social Problems in Childhood Epilepsy as it Relates to Overall Intellectual and Adaptive Functioning and Social Skills

Abstract

Objective:Previous studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of social and emotional problems in young adults with a history of childhood epilepsy, with social skill impairment hypothesized to play a significant role in these outcomes. Few studies have examined social skills within children with epilepsy and very few have examined this within the context of other neuropsychological and neurological variables. This study aims to examine the association between social problems and other relevant neuropsychological variables (IQ, adaptive functioning, social skills) within the pediatric epilepsy population.Participants and Methods:Participants were 86 epilepsy patients between the ages 5 and 18 years of age who were referred for neuropsychological assessment as a part of their surgical candidacy work-up. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the correlations between performance on objective measures of full-scale IQ, and parent ratings on questionnaires assessing parent perception of the patients’ overall adaptive functioning, social skills, and social problems.Results:As expected, earlier age of onset was associated with lower IQ, which itself was associated with weaker overall daily living skills and social skills. Later age of seizure onset was associated greater social problems. Social skills were not correlated with social problems.Conclusions:The results of this study suggest that children with later age of onset of seizures, are at increased risk of social problems and that these problems may not related to social skill impairment. Implications for clinical practice and future directions are discussed.