Changes Of Cognitive Function In Epilepsy Patients And The Relative Factors

Purpose: To investigate the changes of cognitive function in epilepsy patients and the relative factors.Material and Methods: 119 patients got standardized procedure of diagnosis and treatmentand and were administered the same battery of comprehensive neuropsychological tests at baseline and after 2 to 3 years. A battery of neuropsychological tests comprises Auditory Verbal Learning test, Logical Memory test, Digital Symbol test, Blockdesign, Stroop test, Trail Making test, Verbal Fluency test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, Boston Naming test and Digital Span test.Results: The patients showed significant impairment in immediate and delay recall of Logical Memory test and improvement in immediate and delay recall, cued recall, recognition task and semantic clustering of Auditory Verbal Learning test, Digital Symbol test, correct of Stroop test B and C, Verbal Fluency test part2, Boston Naming test and Digital Span test after 2-3 years. While the other cognitive domain did not exhibit any important change, though the time of Trail Making test prolonged. We found the changes of cognitive function were related to the duration of epilepsy, the age at onset, seizure severity, account of antiepileptic drugs, a history of simple partial seizure, age and education level. The duration of epilepsy is related to the changes of cued recall of Auditory Verbal Memory test, the correct of Stroop test C, SIE, Verbal Fluency test part2 and Trail Making test A. A history of Simple partial seizure is related to the changes of semantic clustering 3 of Auditory Verbal Memory test, the correct of Stroop test A and immediate recall of Logical Memory test. The account of antiepileptic drugs is related to the changes of cued recall and subjective organization of Auditory Verbal Memory test and Digital Symbol test. The age at onset is related to the change of semantic clustering 3 of Auditory Verbal Memory test. The seizure severity is related to the change of Digital Symbol test. The age is related to the changes of delay recall of Auditory Verbal Memory test, immediate recall of Logical Memory test, Digital Symbol test and Digital Span test. The education level is related to the changes of semantic clustering and subjective organization of Auditory Verbal Memory test and immediate and delay recall of Logical Memory test.Conclusion: Although the patients have general cognitive deficits, the impairment is not graduation. The cognitive function of the patients does have somewhat improvement after standardized procedure of diagnosis and treatment. The control of seizure can have a beneficial impact on cognitive prognosis.The duration of epilepsy, the account of antiepileptic drugs, seizure severity, seizure type, the age at onset, age and education level are significantly related to the change of cognitive function.