BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN WITH IDIOPATHIC EPILEPSY AND WELL-CONTROLLED SEIZURES

Children with epilepsy are at increased risk for developing behavioral and emotional problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate behavioral and emotional problems in children with idiopathic epilepsy and well-controlled seizures (without seizures for at least 6 months) and to investigate whether specific problems are associated with specific medical epilepsy-related factors. We studied 68 children who had epilepsy and were aged 6.5 to 9.5 years, divided in 2 subgroups: group A, 37 children (18 boys, 19 girls; mean age: 8.29 ± 1.00 years) with idiopathic generalized epilepsy, and group β, 31 children (18 boys, 13 girls; mean age: 8.35 ± 1.12 years) with idiopathic partial epilepsy. The Child Behavior Checklist by Achenbach was used to assess parent-reported behavioral and emotional problems. A total of 45.9% of children in group A had behavioral and emotional problems, whereas 19.4% of children in group B had behavioral and emotional problems. Male gender was correlated with increased incidence of behavioral problems and the abnormal first electroencephalogram with increased incidence of attention problems in group A, whereas low socioeconomic status was correlated with increased incidence of behavioral problems and male gender with increased incidence of attention problems in group B. The results of this study demonstrated a high prevalence of behavioral and emotional problems in children with idiopathic epilepsy. The findings emphasize the necessity to evaluate and address psychosocial problems in children with idiopathic epilepsy, even when their seizures are well controlled.