NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL IMPAIRMENT AND ALTERED THYROID-HORMONE LEVELS IN EPILEPSY

Background. Neuropsychological impairment is a common problem in epile psy which interferes with the quality of life of patients. Similarly, thyroid hormone levels have been observed to be abnormal in patients w ith epilepsy on various treatments. This study aimed to ascertain any possible correlation between neuropsychological performance and thyroi d hormone levels among epilepsy patients. Methods. Thyroid hormone lev els, indices of neuropsychological performance and social adaptation o f 43 epilepsy patients were compared with those of age- and sex-matche d healthy control subjects. Results. Epilepsy patients exhibited signi ficantly (p<0.001) lower scores on attention, memory, constructional p raxis, finger tapping time, and verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) when compared with controls. Their T3, T4 and Free T3 levels were signific antly lower; and TSH and Free T4 levels were significantly higher than that of controls. There was no statistically significant correlation between the indices of neuropsychological performance and thyroid horm one levels. Conclusion. We did not observe any correlation between neu ropsychological impairment and thyroid hormone levels among patients w ith epilepsy.