Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Epilepsy and Behavior, cilt.180, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Objective: Cognitive and behavioral difficulties in pediatric epilepsy extend beyond seizures. Although executive dysfunction is well recognized, Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) remains understudied. We examined CDS-related symptoms and executive functions (EF) in youth with epilepsy and evaluated the influence of comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: This cross-sectional study included 38 youth with epilepsy (7–18 years) and 38 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Participants underwent psychiatric evaluation, and parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Scale (SCTS). In the epilepsy group, 10/38 (26.3%) met DSM-5 criteria for ADHD. Because the SCTS Slow subscale may overlap with ADHD inattention, Slow was analyzed separately and a core score was defined as Sleepy + Daydreamer. Analyses included group comparisons, ADHD-exclusion sensitivity analyses, correlations, and linear regression models. Results: Compared with controls, the epilepsy group had higher BRIEF Global Executive Composite scores (BRIEF-GEC) (p = 0.016; d = 0.57) and higher SCTS Slow scores (p = 0.002; d = 0.75). In contrast, the SCTS Core score did not differ significantly between groups (p = 0.579; d = −0.13). After excluding ADHD cases, the difference in SCTS Slow scores remained significant (p = 0.008; d = 0.68), whereas the BRIEF-GEC difference was no longer significant (p = 0.300). In regression analyses, epilepsy group status predicted SCTS Slow scores (B = 2.596, p = 0.009) but not SCTS Core scores (B = −0.694, p = 0.370). Conclusions: Children and adolescents with epilepsy showed greater everyday executive difficulties and higher slowing-related symptoms than controls. However, the Sleepy + Daydreamer dimension did not differ significantly between groups. These findings suggest that slowing-related symptoms may represent a clinically relevant feature of pediatric epilepsy, whereas broader CDS-related symptom dimensions were not elevated in this sample.