A Comparative Investigation of Neuropsychological Dysfunctions of Antiepileptic Drugs in Epileptic Patients

Introduction & Patients suffering from epilepsy can experience a wide range of neuropsychological disorders such as impaired memory، attention and information process-ing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the performance of neuropsy-chological epileptic patients according to their pharmacotherapy. In this retrospective causal- comparative study، 90 patients with idio-pathic grand mal epilepsy in three groups of 30 subjects taking drug valproate acid، car-bamazepine and combination lamotrigine (with carbamazepine or valproate) were selected in Hamadan clinics in 2012. 30 cases of normal subjects with an age range of 15 to 55 years were included (control group). The four groups of subjects were matched in age and educa-tion and were evaluated according to continuous performance tests، Benton visual retention test، and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). The data was analyzed by SPSS software and Manova، Scheffe، Tamhane tests. The results show that the rate of PASAT in normal group was significantly higher than epilepsy group (P=0. 01)، but among the groups taking valproate acid، carbamazepine and combination lamotrigine (with carbamazepine or valproate) no significant difference was observed in the level of depression. In PASAT and Benton visual retention tests the results were similar. In continuous performance test n the scale of incorrect response the results were reversed and with regard to the correct response، the previous results were confirmed. On omission reply scale، the group which used combination lamotrigine and the normal group showed similar results، thus they were separated from the group using carbamazepine and valproate. On reaction time scale، patients taking carbamazepine significantly (P=0. 01) differed from patients taking amotrigine and valproate and from the normal group. There are significant differences between the AEDs as valporate، carbamazepine and combination therapy in terms of their neuropsychological profiles.