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Cognitive functioning in children with self‐limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Wickens Steven,
Bowden Stephen C.,
D'Souza Wendyl
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/epi.13865
Subject(s) - cognition , psychology , neuropsychology , meta analysis , epilepsy , cognitive skill , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , audiology , psychiatry , medicine
Summary Objective It is now well appreciated that benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes ( BECTS , or more recently, ECTS) is associated with a range of cognitive and behavioral disturbances. Despite our improved understanding of cognitive functioning in ECTS , there have been to date no efforts to quantitatively synthesize the available literature within a comprehensive cognitive framework. Methods The present systematic review and meta‐analysis was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Forty‐two case–control samples met eligibility criteria comprising a total of 1,237 children with ECTS and 1,137 healthy control children. Univariate, random‐effects meta‐analyses were conducted on eight cognitive factors in accordance with the Cattell–Horn–Carroll model of intelligence. Results Overall, children with ECTS demonstrated significantly lower scores on neuropsychological tests across all cognitive factors compared to healthy controls. Observed effects ranged from 0.42 to 0.81 pooled standard deviation units, with the largest effect for long‐term storage and retrieval and the smallest effect for visual processing. Significance The results of the present meta‐analysis provide the first clear evidence that children with ECTS display a profile of pervasive cognitive difficulties and thus challenge current conceptions of ECTS as a benign disease or of limited specific or localized cognitive effect.