Trial reportNeurology2013
Pretreatment cognitive deficits and treatment effects on attention in childhood absence epilepsy.
Trial report in Neurology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 199 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mathematics Skills in Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Epilepsy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents: An overview of etiology, prevalence, and treatment.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Psychiatric Comorbidities in Pediatric Epilepsy.Current psychiatry reports · 2020Pooled it
- Towards a Better Understanding of Cognitive Deficits in Absence Epilepsy: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2019Pooled it
- Pretreatment behavior and subsequent medication effects in childhood absence epilepsy.Neurology · 2017Trial
- Pretreatment seizure semiology in childhood absence epilepsy.Neurology · 2017Trial
- Second monotherapy in childhood absence epilepsy.Neurology · 2017Trial
- Sleep spindle deficits in childhood absence epilepsy improve with antiseizure treatment and disease resolution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- 4 Phenylbutyrate Plus Gene augmentation: A Dual Therapy To Rescue of SLC6A1 Variant Associated Developmental And Epileptic Encephalopathy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Impairment of Spatial Working Memory but Preservation of Recognition Memory in Female Rats with Spontaneous Absence Seizures.Neurochemical research · 2025Article
- Neurosteroids and neurological disorders.The Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology : official journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology · 2025Review
- Multidimensional dataset for cognitive assessment, sMRI, and rsfMRI in common benign epileptic children.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Interictal magnetic signals in new-onset Rolandic epilepsy may help with timing of treatment selection.Epilepsia open · 2024Article
- Behavioral and Cognitive Comorbidities in Genetic Rat Models of Absence Epilepsy (Focusing on GAERS and WAG/Rij Rats).Biomedicines · 2024Review
- A 6-year-old with childhood absence epilepsy and motor hyperactivity.Epilepsy & behavior reports · 2024Article
- Exploring the core network of the structural covariance network in childhood absence epilepsy.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Cognitive phenotype of juvenile absence epilepsy: An investigation of patients and unaffected siblings.Epilepsia · 2023Article
- Article
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the neurocognitive deficits associated with newly diagnosed untreated childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), develop a model describing the factorial structure of items measuring academic achievement and 3 neuropsychological constructs, and determine short-term differential neuropsychological effects on attention among ethosuximide, valproic acid, and lamotrigine.
methodsSubjects with newly diagnosed CAE entering a double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial had neuropsychological testing including assessments of general intellectual functioning, attention, memory, executive function, and achievement. Attention was reassessed at the week 16-20 visit.
resultsAt study entry, 36% of the cohort exhibited attention deficits despite otherwise intact neurocognitive functioning. Structural equation modeling of baseline neuropsychological data revealed a direct sequential effect among attention, memory, executive function, and academic achievement. At the week 16-20 visit, attention deficits persisted even if seizure freedom was attained. More subjects receiving valproic acid (49%) had attention deficits than subjects receiving ethosuximide (32%) or lamotrigine (24%) (p = 0.0006). Parental assessment did not reliably detect attention deficits before or after treatment (p < 0.0001).
conclusionsChildren with CAE have a high rate of pretreatment attentional deficits that persist despite seizure freedom. Rates are disproportionately higher for valproic acid treatment compared with ethosuximide or lamotrigine. Parents do not recognize these attentional deficits. These deficits present a threat to academic achievement. Vigilant cognitive and behavioral assessment of these children is warranted. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class I evidence that valproic acid is associated with more significant attentional dysfunction than ethosuximide or lamotrigine in children with newly diagnosed CAE.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.