A descriptive survey of long-term residents with epilepsy and intellectual disability at the Chalfont Centre: is there a relationship between maladaptive behaviour and magnetic resonance imaging findings?

• Published in: Journal of intellectual disability research 1999-12, Vol.43 (6), p.475-483
• Main Authors: Andrews, T. M., Everitt, A. D., Sander, J. W. A. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - abnormalities; Brain - pathology; England; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - complications; Epilepsy - pathology; Female; Functional Laterality; Hospitals, Psychiatric - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Intellectual deficiency; Intellectual Disability - complications; Intellectual Disability - pathology; Learning disabled people; Long term residential care; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Maladaptive behaviour; Male; malformations of cortical dysgenesis; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Population Surveillance; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Seizures, Febrile - complications; Social Behavior Disorders - etiology; Social Behavior Disorders - pathology; Statistics, Nonparametric
• ISSN: 0964-2633; 1365-2788
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2788.1999.00218.x

The advent of high‐resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has facilitated the identification of subtle, aetiologically relevant structural brain abnormalities in a significant proportion of patients with epilepsy and negative standard neuro‐imaging. In the present study of people with intellectual disability (ID), the authors show that a high frequency of cerebral structural abnormalities (72.4%) can be demonstrated by high‐resolution MRI in patients with epilepsy and ID. Malformations of cortical development (MCD) were found in 8.7% of people without profound ID. An earlier age of onset of habitual seizures was associated with more severe ID and more severe seizures in adulthood. There was no obvious association between this finding and maladaptive behaviour, but a past history of febrile convulsions was associated with increased irritability and agitation. Since there was no obvious association between a history of febrile convulsions and MRI abnormalities, the reason for the above finding remains unclear. Inevitably, any residential epilepsy centre population is subject to selection biases. The population studied was highly skewed, with only one‐third of the sample being female and 80% having mild ID. Thus, the findings of the present study cannot necessarily be generalized to all people with ID.