Abstract
The aim of the present study was to describe the cognitive profile of patients with focal and generalized epilepsy syndrome in comparison with healthy control subjects and to investigate whether depression was related to neuropsychological functioning in these patients. A total of 36 patients with focal epilepsy and 26 patients with generalized epilepsy were compared with the control group of healthy volunteers (n=53). A battery of neuropsychological tests assessing verbal and visual spatial memory and executive functioning was carried out in addition to the completion of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results indicated that patients with epilepsy performed significantly worse than controls on all verbal memory subscales and verbal fluency domains. The patients with focal epilepsy scored significantly worse than the patients with generalized epilepsy. The BDI scores were significantly correlated with several scores of the cognitive test in both patients' groups but not in the control group. Our results suggest that patients with epilepsy, especially with focal-onset epilepsy, show cognitive disturbances predominantly in the verbal memory domain. In addition, depression was found to have a negative effect on cognitive functioning in patients with epilepsy.
Highlights
Cognitive and emotional disturbances are common in patients with all forms of epilepsy [1]
Our results suggest that patients with epilepsy, especially with focal-onset epilepsy, show cognitive disturbances predominantly in the verbal memory domain
Depression was found to have a negative effect on cognitive functioning in patients with epilepsy
Summary
Cognitive and emotional disturbances are common in patients with all forms of epilepsy [1]. The etiology of the disease and underlying neuropathology, frequency of epileptic seizures, side effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and psychosocial factors play significant roles in the cognitive functioning of patients with epilepsy [3]. Research on cognitive functioning in patients with epilepsy has concentrated on the study of memory functions in adults with treatment-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy, and this has led to the concept of a complex of neuropsychological symptoms related to the syndrome of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, with material-specific memory disturbances playing the leading role [4]. A lower number of studies on patients with frontal lobe epilepsy have revealed a more widespread pattern of cognitive function disturbances (disturbances in psychomotor speed/attention, motor coordination, working memory, and response inhibition) [5]. There are even fewer studies addressing cognitive functioning in adults with idiopathic generalized
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