Do ADHD symptoms influence pediatric epilepsy surgery outcomes?
Abstract number :
1.561
Submission category :
11. Behavior/Neuropsychology/Language / 11B. Pediatrics
Year :
2025
Submission ID :
1315
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/6/2025 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Authors :
Presenting Author: Grace Gaston, BS – Medical University of South Carolina
Avery Caraway, BS, MS – Cook Children's
Sonal Bhatia, MBBS, MD, FACNS – UT Southwestern
Ramin Eskandari, MS, MD – Medical University of South Carolina
Janelle Wagner, PhD, FAES – Medical University of South Carolina
Rationale: Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prominent neurodevelopmental comorbidities in pediatric epilepsy (Vidaurre, J. et al. Seminars in pediatric neurology, 2017; 24(4): 282–291), with a prevalence rate of approximately 30% (Auvin, S. et al. Epilepsia, 2018; 59(10): 1867–1880). ADHD negatively impacts quality of life in children and youth with epilepsy (CYE) (Puka, K. et al. Handbook of clinical neurology, 2020; 174: 379–3883) and is associated with worse epilepsy outcomes. For children with medically refractory epilepsy, surgery is pursued. While surgical treatment may result in a seizure free outcome or a reduction in seizures, little is known about the influence of comorbid ADHD symptoms on surgery outcomes. Therefore, our research question was: Are CYE with comorbid elevated ADHD symptoms less likely to achieve seizure freedom post epilepsy surgery?
Methods: The Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) surgery database includes over 3000 CYE from across the US undergoing any phase of epilepsy surgery evaluation. Participants were children ages 5-18 with refractory epilepsy who underwent neuropsychological assessment, including the BASC or CBCL, and a surgical intervention (n=452). Sociodemographic and seizure information was also abstracted. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square test, and logistic regression. Covariates were included in the multivariate model if they were significant in the univariate analyses.
Results: Approximately 44% of CYE had elevated ADHD symptoms. On a univariate level, CYE with elevated ADHD symptoms are 1.15 less likely than CYE without ADHD symptoms to achieve seizure freedom following surgery (B=-0.412, p=.04). However, when demographic and epilepsy covariates were included in the regression model, the ADHD-seizure freedom relationship became non-significant (p=0.61).
Conclusions: Findings show a complex relationship between ADHD and post-surgery seizure freedom that requires further investigation. Next steps include future projects that will analyze the subgroups of ADHD (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity) on surgery outcomes. Additionally, more research will be done to examine the potential change in ADHD symptoms post-surgery.
Funding: None
Behavior