Screening of cognitive and behavioral comorbidity in children with recently diagnosed epilepsy: A pilot study exploring the feasibility and validity of a newly composed online screening tool

Objectives

Cognitive and behavioral comorbidity is frequent in childhood epilepsy and impacts on prognosis and QOL. Comorbidity often precedes seizure onset. Early screening is recommended but no consensus exists on the screening method. The current pilot study investigated the feasibility and validity of a newly developed screening method in children with recently diagnosed epilepsy.

Methods

An online screening method was developed using a combination of existing and validated screening instruments (i.e. 2 standardised questionnaires and 2 psychometric tests), selected to detect the most common comorbid problems in childhood epilepsies. Feasibility was studied using patient and parent questionnaires and drop-out rates. Validity was studied by comparing the screening results to an in-depth diagnostic assessment. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse results.

Results

Out of twenty referred children, 13 entered the study, of whom 1 dropped out (retention rate 93 %). Of those, ten were girls. Most patients were aged 9–12 year (38 %) or 12–15-year (38 %). Eighty-three percent of tested children proved to have cognitive or behavioral comorbidity. Screening results corresponded with diagnostic assessment results in most cases (9 true positives, one true negative), there was 1 false positive and 1 false negative screening result. Sensitivity of the screening amounts to 90 % (CI 73–107).

Conclusions

The current pilot study shows promising results with regards to feasibility and validity of the tested screening method for cognitive and behavioral comorbidity in childhood epilepsy. This warrants further investigation of the method.