BARBITURATE ANTICONVULSANTS - A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND QUANTITATIVE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDY

We studied 11 epileptic children aged 7 to 14 years with quantitative electroencephalographic (EEG) and neuropsychological tests, both on an d off the barbiturate anticonvulsants phenobarbital and mephobarbital, comparing them to 13 controls matched for age and IQ who received tes ting at similar intervals. Neuropsychological tests employed were the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), Bender-Gest alt, controlled oral word association test (COWAT), selected subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, Purdue Peg Board, Stroop Test, T rail Making Test, Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised, and Achenbach B ehavior Rating Scale. There was no difference between on- and off-drug quantitative EEG in percentage power of any frequency band between 0. 6 and 32 Hz. Neuropsychological data from all 11 subjects were analyze d with a two-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures on the time factor. The only difference from controls was on the Stroop Test . Parents reported clear behavioral changes in 6 of 11 subjects, but i n 4 of these children the behavioral changes were sufficiently mild th at parents chose to continue the barbiturate anticonvulsants: irritabi lity, oppositional attitude, and overactivity were described. Mephobar bital was reported by parents to cause less severe problems than pheno barbital in subjects who had taken both barbiturate anticonvulsants. B arbiturate anticonvulsants have no effect on quantitative EEG and Limi ted effects on neuropsychological tests in school-aged children.