Which clinical and neuropsychological factors are responsible for cognitive impairment in patients with epilepsy?

Objectives The study aimed to assess the effect of demographic and clinical features of epilepsy, anxiety, depressed mood, sleep, and quality of life on the prediction of cognitive decline in patients with epilepsy. Methods Two hundred and six consecutive patients with epilepsy (age 41.8 ± 15.6 years, mean, SD) out of 279, were included in this cross-sectional study. We used simple linear regression to calculate the results. Results Objective cognitive status was predicted by anxiety and depression mood changes (Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), p = 0.03, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), p = 0.005), language subdomain of Quality of Life Inventory in Epilepsy-89 (QOLIE-89) ( p = 0.003), and total QOLIE-89 ( p = 0.001). No significance was shown in demographic and clinical features of epilepsy (gender, age at onset, epilepsy duration, type, etiology of epilepsy, and antiepileptic treatment), except frequency of generalized epileptic seizures ( p = 0.03), which also served as an independent predictor of anxiety (BAI) and depression (BDI). Conclusions Our findings point at the role of mood changes in the cognitive status of patients with epilepsy, which should be used as an essential therapeutic target apart of seizure control.