Nasur Iqbal, Helen L Caswell and Susan Duncan
It is increasingly becoming apparent that patients with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME) experience difficulties
with various aspects of cognition. Studies that have attempted to find specific seizure-related factors contributing to
and predicting cognitive dysfunction have provided conflicting and inconclusive results. In this brief paper we aimed
to discuss the nature and context of sub-clinical EEG activity on cognition in JME using two individual cases. It
seems that the potential ‘mechanism’ for cognitive impairments in JME is unlikely to be solely attributable to the
effects of paroxysmal discharges and further research is required to clarify the longer term , cumulative effects of a
range of factors that may help to explain such deficits in cognitive functioning.
