Research article summary (published 29 Nov 1990):

Cognitive function in adult epileptic patients established on anticonvulsant monotherapy.

Full Abstract

A battery of psychometric tests was administered to 110 patients with epilepsy and to 24 non-epileptic controls. Eighty-four patients had been established on treatment with a single anticonvulsant drug (35 carbamazepine (CBZ), 30 sodium valproate (VPA), 19 phenytoin (PHT)) at unaltered dosage for the previous 3 months. The remaining 26 patients were untreated at the time of study. No individual test discriminated between the groups. Tests were converted to standard scores and summated to give overall psychomotor, memory and side-effect assessments. There were no important differences between the performances of untreated epileptic patients and non-epileptic controls. The CBZ-treated patients had poorer psychomotor scores than both control groups and the VPA-treated patients (all P less than 0.05). The PHT patients scored less well on the composite memory scale than did VPA patients and non-epileptic controls (both P less than 0.05). There were no significant differences in subjective side-effects among the groups. This study demonstrated that anticonvulsant monotherapy has little effect on overall cognitive function in patients tolerating treatment. Psychomotor performance appeared to be selectively influenced by CBZ and memory impaired by PHT. VPA may be the drug to chose when cognitive function is an important consideration. Different cognitive modalities can be affected by different first-line anticonvulsants and this should be taken into account when choosing the most appropriate drug for an individual patient.

Author information

Author/s: Gillham, R A (RA); Williams, N (N); Wiedmann, K D (KD); Butler, E (E); Larkin, J G (JG); Brodie, M J (MJ);

Affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, U.K.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Epilepsy research (Epilepsy Res), published in NETHERLANDS. (Language: eng)

Reference: 1990-Dec; vol 7 (issue 3) : pp 219-25

Dates: Created 1991/04/01; Completed 1991/04/01; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 2289480, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Adult Anticonvulsants - adverse effects; blood; therapeutic use Carbamazepine - adverse effects Cognition - drug effects Epilepsy - blood; drug therapy; psychology Female Humans

Humans Intelligence - drug effects Male Middle Aged Osmolar Concentration Phenytoin - adverse effects Psychomotor Performance - drug effects Valproic Acid - adverse effects

Associated Chemicals: Anticonvulsants (0) ; Carbamazepine (298-46-4) ; Phenytoin (57-41-0) ; Valproic Acid (99-66-1)

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