Neuropsychological deficits after a first unprovoked seizure and depressive symptoms in the week before

This prospective study was performed to investigate whether verbal memory deficits are present in patients with a first unprovoked seizure irrespective of significant lesions in the brain and whether symptoms of depression were experienced by those patients in the week before the seizure. After having given informed consent, patients who presented with a first unprovoked seizure were investigated with a psychometric battery consisting of a verbal memory test, a figural memory test, a test following the Stroop paradigm, and a self-rating scale for depression in addition to the routine diagnostic work-up with EEG and MRI. The data of 53 patients aged 45years on average (33 males and 20 females) were available. Verbal memory deficits were present in 60% of the patients, and 21% of the patients delivered a self-rating that was suggestive of at least minor depression in the week before the seizure. Neither verbal memory deficits nor symptoms of depression were associated with a significant lesion of the brain. There was a significant negative correlation between immediate recall in the verbal memory test and the score in the self-rating scale for depression. Our data suggest that even at the time of the first unprovoked seizure, there is an epileptic condition of the brain, which facilitates the occurrence of verbal memory deficits and depression in the presence of an epileptogenic focus irrespective of its localization.