Analysis of clinical characteristics and factors of adult epilepsy patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the incidence of adult epilepsy patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the characteristics of ADHD subtypes, and to explore the correlations between several epilepsy-related factors and ADHD. Methods According to corresponding inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria, 82 adult epilepsy patients from March 2012 to March 2016 were enrolled as study group. Eighty-two healthy adults were enrolled as the control group. Using the Chi-square test and Logistic regression analysis and the other statistical methods, the phenomenon of ADHD in adults with epilepsy and the factors that may contribute to the phenomenon was analyzed. Results The detection rate of ADHD in 82 adult patients with epilepsy was 26.8%(22/82), significantly higher than that in the heathly control group which was 4.9%(4/82),χ2=18.672, P<0.05. Symptomatic epilepsy 8/17 and the electroencephalogram showed multifocal discharge 6/14 had higher detection rate of comorbid ADHD and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The results of binary Logistic regression analysis showed that epilepsy age of onset was possibly an important factor for epilepsy with ADHD (B=-0.891, P<0.05). Conclusions The risk of ADHD in adults with epilepsy is higher than that in the healthy adults and attention-deficit is the common subtype. The etiology, age of onset and electroencephalogram features of adults with epilepsy may be associated with the occurrence of ADHD.