Dysgraphia as a Mild Expression of Dystonia in Children with Absence Epilepsy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Absence epilepsy (AE) is etiologically heterogeneous and has at times been associated with idiopathic dystonia.

Objectives

Based on the clinical observation that children with AE often exhibit, interictally, a disorder resembling writer's cramp but fully definable as dysgraphia, we tested the hypothesis that in this particular population dysgraphia would represent a subtle expression of dystonia.

Methods

We ascertained the prevalence of dysgraphia in 82 children with AE (mean age 9.7) and average intelligence and compared them with 89 age-, gender- and class-matched healthy children (mean age 10.57) using tests for handwriting fluency and quality, based on which we divided patients and controls into four subgroups: AE/dysgraphia, AE without dysgraphia, cont

SUBMITTER: Guerrini R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488862 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature