Association of folic acid, vitamin B12, and intelligence scores in epileptic children

Epilepsy is a serious childhood disease associated with cognitive impairment. Our aim was to investigate the possible association of serum folic acid, vitamin B12, and intelligence scores in epileptic children. A group of 30 children with established diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy for at least one year as well as another group of 30 nonepileptic healthy children as the control group were recruited for analysis. Cognitive performance was assessed by a battery of psychological tests that covers verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Serum B12 level was significantly lower in patients than the control group (264.17 +/- 58.07, 450.55 +/- 134.9, respectively). No significant difference was detected between patients and the control group regarding serum folic acid level. Verbal, performance, and total IQ were significantly lower in patients than the control group (83.2 +/- 3.08 vs. 95.8 +/- 6.22, 78.4 +/- 10.68 vs. 91.3 +/- 2.45, and 180.6 +/- 6.58 vs. 93.5 +/- 3.02, respectively). However, no significant correlation was detected in folic acid, vitamin B 12, and cognitive scores. Epileptic children were five times more at risk of having low IQ (verbal, performance, and total) < 85 than the control group (OR = 4.754, 95% CI 13.047-1031.316, p = .000). In conclusion, children with epilepsy might be at higher risk for cognitive dysfunction than normal children. No significant association was detected between cognitive performance and either folic acid or vitamin B12 in epileptic children receiving sodium valproate. Supplementation of those vitamins should be restricted to those with documented deficiency.