Abstract
This Practice Point commentary discusses a cross-sectional study by Caplan et al. that identified frequent comorbidities associated with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE). The authors found that children with CAE exhibited subtle cognitive deficits (25%), linguistic difficulties (43%), and psychiatric diagnoses (61%)—in particular, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety. The severity of the comorbidities was related to epilepsy duration, seizure frequency, and antiepileptic drug treatment. Only 23% of the children in the study were receiving interventions to treat the comorbidities. Although epilepsy associated with CAE seems to have a 'benign' outcome in most cases, a subpopulation of patients with CAE will continue to experience seizures and associated comorbidities, perhaps accounting for the poor outcomes of such patients in adulthood. The diagnosis and treatment of the CAE syndrome might be enhanced by use of a multidisciplinary approach involving an epileptologist, cognitive–developmental physicians, and child psychiatrists.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Suppression of seizure in childhood absence epilepsy using robust control of deep brain stimulation: a simulation study
Scientific Reports Open Access 10 January 2023
-
Stimulus-induced Epileptic Spike-Wave Discharges in Thalamocortical Model with Disinhibition
Scientific Reports Open Access 23 November 2016
-
Clinical course and seizure outcome of idiopathic childhood epilepsy: determinants of early and long-term prognosis
BMC Neurology Open Access 18 December 2013
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Hause WA (2001) Epidemiology of epilepsy in children. In Pediatric Epilepsy: Diagnosis and Therapy, edn 2, 81–96 (Eds Pellock JM. et al.) New York: Demos Medical Publishing
Caplan R et al. (2008) Childhood absence epilepsy: behavioral, cognitive, and linguistic comorbidities. Epilepsia [10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01680.x]
Pavone P et al. (2001) Neuropsychological assessment in children with absence epilepsy. Neurology 56: 1047–1051
Henkin Y et al. (2005) Cognitive function in idiopathic generalized epilepsy of childhood. Dev Med Child Neurol 47: 126–132
Camfield P and Camfield C (2007) Long-term prognosis for symptomatic (secondarily) generalized epilepsies: a population-based study. Epilepsia 48: 1128–1132
Midzyanovskaya I et al. (2006) The brain 5HTergic response to an acute sound stress in rats with generalized (absence and audiogenic) epilepsy. Brain Res Bull 69: 631–638
Jones J et al. (2007) Psychiatric comorbidity in children with new onset epilepsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 49: 493–497
Hermann B et al. (2007) The frequency, complications and aetiology of ADHD in new onset paediatric epilepsy. Brain 130: 3135–3148
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barnes, G., Paolicchi, J. Neuropsychiatric comorbidities in childhood absence epilepsy. Nat Rev Neurol 4, 650–651 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0947
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0947
This article is cited by
-
Suppression of seizure in childhood absence epilepsy using robust control of deep brain stimulation: a simulation study
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Stimulus-induced transitions between spike-wave discharges and spindles with the modulation of thalamic reticular nucleus
Journal of Computational Neuroscience (2017)
-
Stimulus-induced Epileptic Spike-Wave Discharges in Thalamocortical Model with Disinhibition
Scientific Reports (2016)
-
Clinical course and seizure outcome of idiopathic childhood epilepsy: determinants of early and long-term prognosis
BMC Neurology (2013)