The ability of a patient to focus over time is often impaired among children with epilepsy, and intraindividual variability may be an important way to measure such attentional problems according to a study published in Epilepsy & Behavior .
- Intraindividual variability, a measure of changes in an individual’s transient behavioral performance, has been identified in both pediatric and adult patients with epilepsy.
- Srnka et al evaluated intraindividual variability in 144 patients who had just been diagnosed with epilepsy, using the Connors Continuous Performance Task-II as a metric.
- The children with epilepsy were between the ages of 8 and 18 years and were compared to 82 healthy children.
- The researchers found a large difference in variability between the two groups, with an effect size difference of 0.68.
- They also discovered that intraindividual variability predicted intellectual functioning and academic achievement.
Srnka K, Seidenberg M, Hermann B, Jones J. Intraindividual variability in attentional vigilance in children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2018;79:42-45.
