CLINICAL AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF EPILEPSY IN SUBJECTS WITH AUTISM AND MENTAL-RETARDATION

Clinical and neurophysiological findings for 28 patients with mental r etardation, autism, and epilepsy were described. Correct classificatio n of seizure type and epileptic syndrome (when possible), etiology, se verity of autism and epilepsy, EEG findings, and neuroimaging findings were given. No particular epileptic syndrome was found to be more fre quently correlated to autism, severity of autism was not correlated wi th a more pronounced tendency to develop seizures, and females with au tism were more frequently affected by seizures than were males. In con clusion, the risk for epilepsy does not seem to be correlated to autis m itself, but the same noxious event induces autism and epilepsy. The severity of epilepsy is strictly correlated with its etiopathogenetic mechanisms.