Table 1.
Sample characteristics and group comparisons
| Patients (n = 21) | Controls (n = 48) | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descriptive statistics | |||
| Age (years) | 8.67 (±2.2) | 9.06 (±2.48) | 0.57 |
| Sex (females, males) | 9,12 | 24,24 | 0.72 |
| Language lateralization (laterality indices) | |||
| Broca’s area | 0.68 (±0.21) | 0.71 (±0.16) | 0.37 |
| Wernicke’s area | 0.54 (±0.42) | 0.63 (±0.32) | 0.42 |
| Neuropsychological performance | |||
| General verbal ability composite (Z-score) | −0.73 (±0.8) | 0.32 (±0.9) | <0.001 |
| Verbal IQ (SS) | 100 (±13) | 117 (±16) | <0.001 |
| CELF-IV Core language (SS) | 100 (±12) | 113 (±11) | <0.001 |
| EOWPVT (SS) | 98 (±14) | 114 (±16) | <0.001 |
| Performance (non-verbal) IQ (SS) | 99 (±11) | 110 (±14) | 0.002 |
| In-scanner measures | |||
| Movement (mm) | 1.87 (±2.88) | 1.97 (±3.2) | 0.9 |
| Task performance (% correct) | 65.56% (±19) | 78.88% (±17) | 0.008 |
| Epilepsy characteristics | |||
| Age of seizure onset (years) | 5.01 (±2.85) | ||
| Duration of seizures (years) | 4.23 (±3.54) | ||
| Seizure frequency | |||
| Daily | 5% | ||
| Weekly | 14% | ||
| Monthly | 33% | ||
| ≤1 per six months | 43% | ||
| Seizure lateralization | |||
| Left | 76% | ||
| Right | 24% | ||
| Seizure localization | |||
| Frontal | 14.30% | ||
| Temporal | 57.10% | ||
| Parietal | 4.80% | ||
| Fronto-temporal | 9.50% | ||
| Temporo-parietal | 4.80% | ||
| Central | 4.80% | ||
| Undetermined | 4.80% | ||
Demographic and epilepsy variables, as well as standard scores (SS) on neuropsychological assessments for children with focal epilepsy (patients) and healthy children (controls), including significant group differences (independent samples t-tests). Healthy children had no history of developmental, learning, neurological or psychiatric disorder. In-scanner task performance data were available for 47 healthy controls and 18 patients. Age of onset and seizure frequency data were not available for one participant.
EOWPVT = Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test.