Handedness, cognitive processing and intelligence in patients with epilepsy

• Authors: Vladimir V. Kalinin , Daniya M. Nazmetdinova , Alexander V. Basamygin
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Introduction. The current knowledge of significance of some neurobiological and clinical variables for the development of cognitive deterioration in patients with epilepsy remains sparse and controversial.Aim. The current study has been carried out in order to elucidate the role of handedness in terms of influence on cognitive processing and intelligence in patients with epilepsy.Material and methods. One hundred and thirty two patients (62 males, 70 females, aged 27.8 ± 8.9 years) with epilepsy participated in the study. Patients were divided into two groups. The first group included 112 patients that were characterized by intelligence and cognitive impairment while the second group (20 patients) had no mental deterioration and was regarded as controls. The two diagnostic categories accorded with ICD-10 criteria. The diagnosis of Dementia (F-02.8) was confirmed in 54 patients, while the diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (F-06.7) was confirmed in 58 patients.Results. Our results show that the level of left-handers among patients with cognitive Impairment achieved 14.2%, whilst in the group without cognitive deterioration there were no left-handers, and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.051). An analysis of possible influence of motor lateralization on degree of cognitive deterioration, revealed that left-handedness determines the higher degrees of intelligence deterioration compared with right-handedness (χ2 = 6.64; p < 0,05). These data were confirmed by use of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) tests, and all left-handed epilepsy patients achieved lower scores on MMSE, total WAIS, as well as verbal and nonverbal WAIS scores.Conclusion. Our data confirm a role of some neurobiological variables, with emphasis on cerebral motor lateralization, in their influence upon intelligence level and cognitive deterioration in epilepsy. These data may be used for predictive purposes of intelligence assessment in patients with epilepsy.

Keywords

EN

epilepsy; intelligence; cerebral motor lateralization; Wechsler

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Journal of Epileptology
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 5-10

Dates

published

1 - 6 - 2014

online

1 - 3 - 2015

received

10 - 2 - 2014

accepted

26 - 3 - 2014

Contributors

author

Vladimir V. Kalinin

• Department of brain organic disorders and epilepsy of Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry of Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

author

Daniya M. Nazmetdinova

• Department of brain organic disorders and epilepsy of Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry of Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

author

Alexander V. Basamygin

• Department of brain organic disorders and epilepsy of Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry of Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation

References

• Aldenkamp A.:Effect of seizures and epileptiform discharges on cognitive function. Epilepsia, 1997, 38 (Suppl 1): 52–55.
• Aldenkamp A., Overweg J., Gutter T., Beun A.M., Diepman L., Mulder O.G.:Effect of epilepsy, seizures and epileptiform EEG discharge on cognitive function. Acta Neurol. Scand., 1996, 93: 253–259.[Crossref]
• Annett M.:A classification of hand preference by association analysis. British Journal of Psychology, 1970, 61: 303–321.[Crossref]
• Crow T.J.:Why cerebral asymmetry is the key to the origin of Homo sapiens: how to find a gene or eliminate the theory. Current Psychology of Cognition, 1998, 17: 1237–1277.
• Devinsky O., Tarulli A.:Progressive cognitive and behavioral changes in epilepsy. In: O. Devinsky, L.E. Westbrook (eds.), Epilepsy and developmental disabilities. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 2002, 133–149.
• Dikmen S., Matthews C.G., Harley J.P.:The effect of early versus late onset of major motor epilepsy on cognitive-intellectual performance: further considerations. Epilepsia, 1977, 18: 31–36.[Crossref][PubMed]
• Dobrochotova T.A., Bragina N.P.:The left-handed persons. Kniga, Moscow 1994, 210 (in Russian).
• Dodrill C.B.:Correlates of generalized tonic-clonic seizures with intellectual, neuropsychological, emotional, and social function in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsia, 1986, 27: 399–411.[PubMed][Crossref]
• Dodrill C.B.:Neuropsychological aspects of epilepsy. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am.,1991, 15: 383–394.
• Folstein M.F., Folstein S.E., McHugh P.R.:“Mini-mental state”. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J. Psychiatry Research, 1975, 12: 189–198.[Crossref]
• Geodakian V.A.:Asynchronous asymmetry (sexual and lateral differentiation as a consequence of asynchronous evolution). Journal of Higher Nervous Activity, 1993, 43: 543–561 (in Russian).
• Jokeit H., Ebner A.:Long term effects of refractory temporal epilepsy on cognitive abilities: a cross sectional study. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 1999, 67: 44–50.[Crossref]
• Jokeit H., Ebner A.:The risk of cognitive decline in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. In: M. Trimble, B. Schmitz (eds.), The neuropsychiatry of epilepsy. University Press, Cambridge 2002, 152–163.
• Jokeit H., Seitz R., Markowitsch H., Neumann N., Witt O., Abner A.:Prefrontal asymmetric interictal glucose hypometabolism and cognitive impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain, 1997, 120: 2283–2294.[PubMed][Crossref]
• Kalinin V.V., Zemlyanaya A.A., Krylov O.Y., Zheleznova E.V.:Handedness, alexithymia and focus laterality as risk factors for psychiatric co-morbidity in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav., 2010, 17: 389–394.[Crossref][PubMed][WoS]
• Scholz W.:Die Krampfschädigungen des Gehirns. Springer, Berlin 1951 (in German).
• Stauder K.:Konstitution und Wesenänderung der Epileptiker. George Thieme, Leipzig 1938 (in German).
• Wechsler D.:Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III. The Psychological Corporation, New York 1991.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/joepi-2015-0010