Abstract
Objective
To assess prevalence of behavioral problems in children with epilepsy.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional study of children with epilepsy, and normal controls enrolled between July 2013 to June 2015. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used as a tool to assess the behavior based on parents reported observation.
Results
There were 60 children with epilepsy in 2-5 years and 80 in 6-14 years age groups, and 74 and 83 unaffected controls, respectively. Mean CBCL scores for most of the domains in children of both age groups were significantly higher than controls. Clinical range abnormalities were mainly detected in externalizing domain (23.3%) in 2-5 years, and in both internalizing (21.2%) and externalizing (45%) domains in children of 6-14 years. Younger age of onset, frequency of seizures and duration of disease had significant correlation with behavioral problems in both the age groups. Antiepileptic drug polytherapy was significantly associated with internalizing problems in older children.
Conclusion
Age at onset, frequency of seizures and duration of disease were found to be significantly associated with occurrence of behavioral problems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Malhotra S, Malhotra A. Psychological adjustment of physically sick children: Relationship with temperament. Indian Pediatr. 1990;27:577–84.
Jones R, Rickards H, Cavanna AE. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in epilepsy: a critical review of the evidence. Funct Neurol. 2010;25:191–4.
Gaitatzis A, Trimble MR, Sander JW. The psychiatric co-morbidity of epilepsy. Acta Neurol Scand. 2004;110:207–20.
Marsh L, Rao V. Psychiatric complications in patients with epilepsy: A review. Epilepsy Res. 2002;49:11–33.
Choudhary A, Gulati S, Sagar R, Kabra M, Sapra S. Behavioral comorbidity in children and adolescents with epilepsy. J Clin Neurosci. 2014;21:1337–40.
Gulati S, Yoganathan S, Chakrabarty B. Epilepsy, cognition and behavior. Indian J Pediatr. 2014;81:1056–62.
Otero S. Psychopathology and psychological adjustment in children and adolescents with epilepsy. World J Pediatr. 2009;5:12–7.
Hoare P, Mann H. Self-esteem and behavioral adjustment in children with epilepsy and children with diabetes. J Psychosom Res. 1994;38:859–69.
Rodenburg R, Stams GJ, Meijer AM, Aldenkamp AP, Dekoviæ M. Psychopathology in children with epilepsy: A meta-analysis. J Pediatric Psychol. 2005;30:453–68.
Austin JK, Risinger MW, Beckett LA. Correlates of behavior problems in children with epilepsy. Epilepsia. 1992;33:1115–22.
Aldenkamp AP, Bodde N. Behavior, cognition and epilepsy. Acta Neurol Scand. 2005;182: S19-25.
Kobayashi K, Endoh F, Ogino T, Oka M, Morooka T, Yoshinaga H, et al. Questionnaire based assessment of behavioral problems in Japanese children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2013;7:238–42.
Eom S, Eun SH, Kang HC, Eun BL, Nam SO, Kim SJ, et al. Epilepsy-related clinical factors and psychosocial functions in pediatric epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2014;37:43–8.
Allison Bender H, Auciello D, Morrison CE, MacAllister WS, Zaroff CM. Comparing the convergent validity and clinical utility of the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Parent Rating Scales and Child Behavior Checklist in children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2008;13:237–42.
Gleissner U, Fritz NE, Von Lehe M, Sassen R, Elger CE, Helmstaedter C. The validity of the Child Behavior Checklist for children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2008;12:276–80.
Fisher RS, van Emde Boas W, Blume W, Elger C, Genton P, Lee P, et al. Epileptic seizures and epilepsy: definitions proposed by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE). Epilepsia. 2005;46:470–2.
Sabbagh SE, Soria C, Escolano S, Bulteau C, Dellatolas G. Impact of epilepsy characteristics and behavioral problems on school placement in children. Epilepsy Behav. 2006;9:573–8.
Kumar N, Gupta N, Kishore J. Kuppuswamy’s socioeconomic scale: updating income ranges for the year 2012. Indian J Public Health. 2012;56:103–4.
Achenbach TM. Achenbach system of empirically based assessment (ASEBA). Manual for the child behavior checklist Pre-school (1.5–5 year), 2000 and School (6–18 year). Burlington, USA: Research Centre for Children Youth and Families, 2001.
Singh H, Aneja S, Unni KE, Seth A, Kumar V. A study of educational underachievement in Indian children with epilepsy. Brain Dev. 2012;34:504–10.
Prasad R, Shambhavi, Mishra OP, Upadhyay SK, Singh TB, Singh UK. Cognitive and behavior dysfunction of children with neurocysticercosis: a cross sectional study. J Trop Pediatr. 2014;60:358–62.
Brooks-Kayal A. Molecular mechanisms of cognitive and behavioral co-morbidities of epilepsy in children. Epilepsia. 2011;52:S13–20.
Buelow JM, Austin JK, Perkins SM, Shen J, Dunn DW, Fastenau PS. Behavior and mental health problems in children with epilepsy and low IQ. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2003;45:683–92.
Powell K, Walker RW, Rogathe J, Gray WK, Hunter E, Newton CR, et al. Cognition and behavior in a prevalent cohort of children with epilepsy in rural northern Tanzania: A three-year follow-up study. Epilepsy Behavi. 2015;51:117–23.
Datta SS, Premkumar TS, Chandy S, Kumar S, Kirubakaran C, Gnanamuthu C, et al. Behaviour problems in children and adolescents with seizure disorder: associations and risk factors. Seizure. 2005;14:190–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mishra, O.P., Upadhyay, A., Prasad, R. et al. Behavioral problems in Indian children with epilepsy. Indian Pediatr 54, 116–120 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-017-1012-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-017-1012-7