While the meaning of the findings aren’t entirely clear, new research offers insight into the aging brains of people who developed child-onset epilepsy: A cohort with an average age of 63 appears to be more likely than controls to show signs of brain deterioration, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.
“,” lead author Matti Sillanpää, MD, PhD, a researcher and former child neurologist based at the University of Turko in Finland, said in an interview.
The study began 60 years ago when Finnish researchers started to track 99 subjects who were under 16 and had developed uncomplicated epilepsy. In 2012, 51 participants returned for assessments (9 of the original cohort had died, 2 didn’t speak Finnish as a mother tongue, and 15 had left the country or couldn’t be found).
In 2017, 41 participants agreed to take part in follow-up assessments (1 of the 2012 cohort could not be traced, and 9 declined to participate.)
Researchers launched the follow-up assessments to provide more insight into aging and epilepsy, Dr. Sillanpää said. “While we are in the early stages of understanding the brain and cognitive aging processes of people with epilepsy, there are enough worrisome signs from neuroimaging and cognitive studies to suggest that much more clinical and research attention is warranted. Especially important are population-based investigations that include persons with both remitted as well as active epilepsy in order to obtain a clearer understanding of the overall aging risks involved.”
The average age of the 41 subjects in the second assessment was 63.2 (4.1), and 58% were female. Just over half (52%) had focal epilepsy, and 48% had generalized epilepsy. In 74%, epilepsy had remitted, and it remained active in the rest (26%).
For the study, researchers compared the subjects with a control group of 46 subjects, 50% of whom were female, with an average age of 63.0 (4.13). The original control group had 99 participants, and 52 took part in 2012. Of those, 6 declined to participate in the 2017 assessments.
The researchers report these findings:
- Patients with active epilepsy were more likely to have neurologic signs than were those with remitted epilepsy (P = .015), especially the most common signs – cerebellar signs (P < .001). There was a trend toward cerebellar atrophy but it wasn’t statistically significant (P = .06).
- Patients with focal epilepsies were more likely to have neurologic signs (P = .008) and, specifically, cerebellar signs (P = .018) than were those with generalized epilepsies.
- The study authors calculated the lifetime usage of four drugs: carbamazepine, diphenylhydantoin, phenobarbital, and valproate. They found that patients with higher usage had more peripheral neuropathy, especially those with high levels of diphenylhydantoin, and phenobarbital usage.
- Overall, patients with epilepsy versus controls and those with active epilepsy versus remitting epilepsy were more likely to show adjusted declines in “cognitive trajectories” (both P < .05)