Screening Children with Epilepsy for Cognitive Deficits Using the Modified Mini-Mental Scale Examination and the Digit Letter Substitution Test

Abstract

Purpose: Children with epilepsy commonly have cognitive deficits; however, full-length neuropsy-chological testing is time- and resource-intensive. Therefore, we evaluated the feasibility of using the modified Mini-Mental Scale Examination (MMSE) and the Digit Letter Substitution Test (DLST) to screen children with epilepsy for cognitive deficits.Methods: This was a prospective case-control study comparing scores on the MMSE and the DLST in children with epilepsy with normal age-matched controls between 8 and 12 years of age. Results: In 35 cases and 36 controls, the cases had significantly lower (P<0.05) mean scores than the controls. The correlation coefficient between the MMSE and DLST scores was 0.902 (P<0.001). Children with developmental or speech delays and an epilepsy duration ≥5 years had lower scores than those without the corresponding risk factors.Conclusion: This study demonstrated significantly lower scores on the MMSE and DLST in chil-dren with epilepsy than in controls, as well as significantly lower scores in patients with develop-mental or speech delays and an epilepsy duration ≥5 years.