Epileptic Disorders
MENUControl groups in paediatric epilepsy research: do first-degree cousins show familial effects? Volume 19, issue 1, March 2017
Authors
1 Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI
2 Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL
3 Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA
* Correspondence: Bruce Hermann
Department of Neurology,
University of Wisconsin,
1685 Highland Avenue,
Madison, WI 53705, USA
- Key words: cousin control, research design, cognition, behaviour, brain imaging, focal idiopathic epilepsy, genetic generalized epilepsy
- DOI : 10.1684/epd.2017.0898
- Page(s) : 49-58
- Published in: 2017
Aim
To determine whether first-degree cousins of children with idiopathic focal and genetic generalized epilepsies show any association across measures of cognition, behaviour, and brain structure. The presence/absence of associations addresses the question of whether and to what extent first-degree cousins may serve as unbiased controls in research addressing the cognitive, psychiatric, and neuroimaging features of paediatric epilepsies.