[Intelligence development in children with early-onset epilepsy with complex partial seizures]

Eighty-four outpatients treated for epilepsy with complex partial seizures were followed up 18 years later.

Of these Patients, 35% showed stabile learning disabilities when they were first treated and also 18 years later. These Patients did not achieve a regular school qualification. Forty-eight percent suffered from a psychiatric disorder as classified by the ICD-10. Children with a pathological neurological result in the first examination showed poorer cognitive outcomes than Patients with only mild neurological impairment. The age of onset of the disease did not significantly predict subsequent cognitive abilities. Patients who showed complex partial seizures and generalized seizures showed poorer cognitive outcomes, as did Patients with a psychiatric disorder or psychosocial problems.

The study points to the importance of a conjoint neurological and psychiatric treatment to deal with the different impairments and corresponding developmental course of the disease.