Disturbi psichiatrici nelle epilessie parziali farmacoresistenti dell'età evolutiva

Psychiatric disorders (PDs) are common in children with epilepsy. We studied the occurrence of PDs in a sample of 27 children (16 males, 11 females) with drug-resistant partial epilepsy (follow-up ≥ two years), comparing data with those of a control group of 110 children with well-controlled partial epilepsy. PDs were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV and to the International Classification of Diseases - 9th Edition 1997 (ICD-9). The rate of PDs was significantly higher in drug-resistant patients than in well-controlled ones (78% v 30%; p <0.00001), with high occurrence of mental retardation (48%), behaviour disorders (19%), and co-morbidity (15%).