Inattentiveness in schoolchildren with epilepsy.

Different aspects of "inattentiveness" or related behavior were assessed in 71 children with epilepsy and in 35 nonepileptic children attending ordinary school. Both groups were of similar age and eduational circumstances. Epileptic boys were significantly more inattentive and overactive than nonepileptic boys according to their teachers and parents, and they performed significantly less well on tests of sustained attention and perceptual accuracy. No such differences were seen between epileptic and nonepileptic girls. This contrast between the epileptic groups was not attributable to drug effects or EEG abnormalities. Auditory stimulation reduced the perceptual accuracy of nonepileptic children but appeared to have a beneficial effect on epileptic groups. Teachers' ratings of inattentiveness were not consistently correlated with other measures. These findings conform with other evidence which suggests that epileptic boys are behaviorally more vulnerable than epileptic girls but not simply as a reflection of sex related differences in children in general. The results also suggest that teachers' statements about "inattentiveness" are difficult to interpret and that problem behavior at school needs to be specified precisely.