Prognostic role of Mini-Mental State Pediatric Examination (MMSPE) on neuropsychological functioning.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of the Mini-Mental State Pediatric Examinations (MMSPE) in the individuation of neuropsychological impairments. METHOD: MMSPE was administered to 60 children attending a primary or lower secondary school suffering from neurological diseases, admitted to our neuropsychology services. All children performed both a MMSPE examination and a neuropsychological evaluation. Results of neuropsychological evaluation and MMSPE were dichotomized. Positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy were also calculated. RESULTS: The diagnostic performance of MMSPE showed a good overall accuracy (0.83, CI 95% 0.64-0.91), NPV (0.81, CI 95% 0.73-1.00), PPV (0.87, CI 95% 0.68-0.94), specificity (0.91, CI 95% 0.81-1.00), sensitivity (0.74, CI 95% 0.57-0.90), and odds ratio of 28.5 (CI 95% 6.6-123), p < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: MMSPE has a good prognostic ability in predicting neuropsychological problems in the context of different neurological pediatric diseases. We suggest that this instrument could greatly improve pediatric clinical practice in identifying high-risk children.

Neuropsychological impairment in children with Rolandic epilepsy and in their siblings.

To assess and characterize a possible neurocognitive endophenotype associated with Rolandic epilepsy (RE), a clinical study was carried out to evaluate the neuropsychological profile of children with RE at onset and of their healthy siblings. Seventeen subjects were recruited (10 boys and 7 girls): nine patients affected by RE and eight siblings who underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluations. All patients and only two siblings showed centrotemporal spikes on the electroencephalographic recording. Eighteen age- and sex-matched healthy children were assessed as controls. A significant impairment was found in language domain, attentional functioning, and short- and long-term verbal memory in both patients and siblings. A positive correlation between verbal comprehension and working memory scores was found in both groups. A similar neuropsychological profile of RE, which affected patients and their siblings with impairment in the same developing areas, supports the hypothesis of a specific neurocognitive phenotype in RE.