Behavioral problems in children with epilepsy: a case–control study

Abstract

Background Epilepsy is a disease that is not inclusive of seizures only, as there are behavioral, psychiatric, and cognitive disorders linked to it. Objective This study aims to compare the frequency and type of behavioral problems in children with epilepsy less than 5 years old versus healthy controls. Patients and methods This study is a case–control study conducted from April 2016 to April 2018 in the Neurology Clinic of Mansoura University Children Hospital. Inclusion criteria were age between 1.6 and 5 years old, diagnosis of epilepsy for 1 year at least, and regular follow-up. Excluded were children with cerebral palsy, developmental delay, mental retardation, and neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders. For matching by age and sex, the healthy group was sampled after the epilepsy group. The parents of both groups were interviewed to complete the child behavior checklist. Results The patients with epilepsy had higher child behavior checklist scores when compared with healthy children in different domains of withdrawal (P=0.001), sleep problems (P=0.02), attention-deficit problems (P Conclusion Childhood epilepsy can be associated with behavioral problems, which could be related to the age of onset, type of seizure, antiepileptic drugs, and duration of epilepsy.