Executive dysfunction in an Egyptian sample of adult participants with epilepsy: a case–control study

Abstract

© 2019 Egyptian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by W Objective The present study aimed to detect the executive function deficits that may affect patients with idiopathic epilepsy and the factors that influence such affection. Study design A case–control study was conducted. Materials and methods A total of 40 adult patients aged from 20 to 50 years, with idiopathic epilepsy recruited from the outpatient clinic of South Valley and Assiut University hospital and a similar number of age-matched and sex-matched controls were included. Participants completed Wechsler Intelligence Scale and neuropsychological tests including Wisconsin card sorting test, trail making test (trails A and B), Conners’ continuous performance test, and digit span tests. Results Relative to the control group, patients poorly performed on most of executive functions, with the longer duration of illness and the higher frequency of seizures being the most evident factors that showed a positive correlation with the executive dysfunction. However, age at onset, type of seizures, and family history of epilepsy had no significant correlation on neuropsychological test performance. Conclusion One of the main domains of evaluation of the patients with chronic epilepsy should be the cognitive domain. A large number of studies shed light on such hypothesis. Executive dysfunction in patients with epilepsy may share negatively in their quality of life, so it should be a target of diagnosis and therapy.