Mental health of children and adolescents with epilepsy: analysis of clinical and neuropsichological aspects

Epilepsy compromises the development of cognitive and social skills and represents a risk of psychiatric comorbidity. Objective: To compare psychopathological symptoms in children with epilepsy and in a healthy group, and to correlate the results with neuropsychological and clinical variables. Method: Forty five children with idiopathic epilepsy and sixty five healthy controls underwent neuropsychological evaluation and their caregivers replied to a psychopathology questionnaire (Child Behavior Checklist – CBCL). Results: There were significant differences in CBCL, with poorer results showed mainly by patients with epilepsy. There was no significant association between any psychopathological symptom and disease duration or amount of antiepileptic drugs used. There was positive correlation between intelligence quocient and CBCL on items such as sluggish cognitive tempo, aggressive behavior, attention problems and activities and a negative relation between academic achievement, conduct and rule-breaking behavior. Conclusion: Children with epilepsy had the worse results in the psychopathology evaluation. Certain psychopathological variables are related to the cognitive profile, with no relation to clinical variables