Attentional Impairment in People With Epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological conditions.It leads to cognitive impairment in 20-50% of patients with a structural form. In comparison with seizures, these cognitive disorders are a major additional factor in occupational, social and family disability. They are particularly frequent (50%) in temporal epilepsies and preferably concern memory and language skills. The cognitive consequences of epilepsy are therefore well described in the following areas: episodic memory, language, executive functions. Concerning attentional abilities, a recent review has highlighted the lack of work in this specific field in order to properly measure the prevalence and nature of attentional disorders in epileptic patients. Indeed, attentional abilities are often mentioned in studies, but attention is a complex domain defined by four modalities: alertness, selective attention, divided attention and sustained attention. No study systematically assesses all of these modalities. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and nature of attentional disorders in epileptic patients compared to control subjects.