Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME): Neuropsychological Profile and Related Factors with Cognitive Dysfunction

The aim of present study was to verify possible cognitive dysfunction in the patients with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME) and its correlation to factors related to epilepsy and patients demographic variables.

Thirty two consecutive patients with JME and 32 healthy controls were evaluated in neuropsychological domains including orientation, mental control, logical memory, forward and backward digit spans, visual memory, associative learning, and memory quotient (using Persian version of Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)-Revised), preservative errors (using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)), Stroop Test (color and word), IQ score (using Raven's Progressive Matrices test), and depression (using the Persian version of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)). SPSS 11.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) software was used for statistical analysis. Student's t-test and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used for independent normally and non-normally distributed continuous variables, respectively.

Our study showed significant differences between patients with JME and control group with respect to scores of mental control (p=0.015), forward digit span (p=0.004), total digit span (p=0.008) and IQ (p=0.003). In addition, age, education level, duration of epilepsy and medication showed an impact on several cognitive functions in the patients with JME.

It is indicated that JME is associated with impairment in specific cognitive domains, despite any evidence in favor of depression.