J Korean Child Neurol Soc.  2012 Sep;20(3):129-136.

The Comorbidity of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children with Epilepsy

• Sim GY
• Son JW
• Kim WS

Abstract

PURPOSE
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is known to be more common in children with epilepsy than in the general population. Thirty one to forty percent of ADHD is accompanied with epilepsy. Few studies regarding this matter have been reported in Korea. This study was aimed to evaluate the comorbidity of ADHD in children with epilepsy.
METHODS
This is a two center based, retrospective and controlled study. Thirty four ADHD children with epilepsy from Chungbuk National University hospital and 38 ADHD children without epilepsy from Cheonju St. Mary's hospital were recruited from January 2005 to June 2010.
RESULTS
In ADHD children with epilepsy, twelve (35.2%) had partial seizures, 11 (32.2%) did generalized seizures and 11 (32.2%) were unclassified. EEG abnormalities were found in the frontal lobe (15 cases), in the central lobe (7 cases), in the temporal lobe (6 cases), and in the occipital lobe (3 cases). In ADHD children with epilepsy, the combined type was major (76.4%) and in ADHD children without epilepsy, the inattentive type was major (50.5%) (P=0.004). Learning disability was mor common in ADHD with epilepsy than in ADHD without epilepsy (P=0.01).
CONCLUSION
This study showed that ADHD children with epilepsy are more likely to have combined type (76.4%) and learning disability as compared with ADHD without epilepsy.

Keyword

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Epilepsy

MeSH Terms

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
Child
Comorbidity
Electroencephalography
Epilepsy
Frontal Lobe
Humans
Korea
Learning Disorders
Occipital Lobe
Retrospective Studies
Seizures
Temporal Lobe