Mechanisms of memory impairment in epilepsy depend on age at disease onset

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to uncover distinct antecedents of autobiographic memory dysfunction in patients with epilepsy with early (childhood/adolescence) vs late (adulthood) disease onset. METHODS: One hundred sixty-six adults participated: 92 patients with focal epilepsy, whose cognitive and psychiatric functioning were compared to that of 74 healthy controls. Predictors of autobiographic memory deficit were contrasted between patients with early-onset (n = 47) vs late-onset (n = 45) epilepsy. RESULTS: Overall, people with epilepsy performed significantly worse on measures of both semantic and episodic autobiographic memory and showed markedly high rates of depressive symptoms an..