Psychiatric and Behavioural Disorders in Children with Epilepsy: an ILAE Task Force Report.

Abstract

CONTENTS S1 PrefaceFrank Besag, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa S2 Epidemiology of psychiatric/behavioural disorder in children with epilepsyMatti Sillanpaa, Frank Besag, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi S8 Epilepsy and ADHDFrank Besag, Giuseppe Gobbi, Rochelle Caplan, Matti Sillanpaa, Albert Aldenkamp, David W. Dunn S16 Epilepsy and AutismFrank Besag, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa S24 Anxiety, depression and childhood epilepsyDavid W. Dunn, Frank Besag, Rochelle Caplan, Albert Aldenkamp, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa S31 Epilepsy and psychosis in children and teenagersFrank Besag, Rochelle Caplan, Albert Aldenkamp, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa S37 Behavioural and psychiatric disorders associated with epilepsy syndromesFrank Besag, Giuseppe Gobbi, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Matti Sillanpaa S49 Subtle behavioural and cognitive manifestations of epilepsyFrank Besag, Giuseppe Gobbi, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Matti Sillanpaa S55 Adverse cognitive and behavioural effects of antiepileptic drugsAlbert Aldenkamp, Frank Besag, Giuseppe Gobbi, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Matti Sillanpaa S68 Behavioural effects of epilepsy surgeryFrank Besag, Rochelle Caplan, Albert Aldenkamp, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa S77 When should pharmacotherapy for psychiatric/behavioural disorders in children with epilepsy be prescribed?Frank Besag, Albert Aldenkamp, Rochelle Caplan, David W. Dunn, Giuseppe Gobbi, Matti Sillanpaa PREFACE Psychiatric/behavioural problems are common in children with epilepsy, typically occurring in around 35-50% in epidemiological studies. They can affect the quality of life of the children and their families to a major degree. In many cases these problems create more of a challenge than the epilepsy itself. However, there are relatively few high-quality studies in this area. This collection of papers is intended to represent one step in a long journey towards addressing the lack of information by drawing together the available data on a number of key topics including epidemiology, the relationships between epilepsy and several psychiatric disorders, the role of the epilepsy itself, the effects of antiepileptic drugs and surgery and the place of pharmacotherapy. Although there is relatively good information on epidemiology there is very little information on the causes of and risk factors for psychiatric disorders in childhood epilepsy that might give insight into early diagnosis and prevention. Despite the growing amount of research in genetics, the impact on management has been minimal so far. There is also very sparse high-quality randomised controlled trial data on treatment of psychiatric disorders in childhood epilepsy. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, there is a striking lack of neuroimaging studies in this field. These are areas that would benefit from further attention and research. The information in this report has been put together by the members of the immediate past Child Neuropsychiatry Taskforce of the Neuropsychology Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy, guided by the then chairpersons of the commission: Andres Kanner and Marco Mula. The immediate past Task Force was officially in place from July 2009 to June 2013, although their work has continued since then, in relation to this publication and updating all the papers.