The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIHTB-CB) is designed to assess cognitive functioning across the lifespan. We aimed to evaluate the clinical validity of two NIHTB-CB tasks as cognitive screening tools in pediatric epilepsy by comparing them to standard neuropsychological measures and their association with epilepsy characteristics. Forty-seven patients with epilepsy ages 5–18, including ten repeat evaluations, were assessed. Correlational analyses and agreement statistics were conducted to validate NIHTB-CB tasks (Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention test (Flanker) and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed test (Pattern Comparison)) with standard clinical measures. We also examined if performance was related to epilepsy characteristics, including polytherapy, age of seizure onset, seizure type, and history of Electrical Status Epilepticus in Sleep (ESES). The NIHTB-CB tests had moderate to strong correlations with neuropsychological measures of executive functioning, processing speed, and intelligence. Agreement statistics indicated better sensitivity than specificity. Polytherapy and later age of seizure onset were associated with lower performance on Pattern Comparison. ESES patients did not significantly differ in performance on the tests compared to non-ESES patients. Pilot data from a subset of repeated measures indicated a good range of change scores. These two NIHTB tasks are feasible as a screening tool in a clinic given their correlation with clinical measures that assess executive function, processing speed, and IQ. This study supports the use of these tasks as brief, easily accessible screener tools to identify cognitive dysfunction in domains commonly impacted in patients with epilepsy and potential use for monitoring over time.

中文翻译：

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选定的 NIH 认知工具箱任务在小儿癫痫中的临床验证

NIH 工具箱认知电池 (NIHTB-CB) 旨在评估整个生命周期的认知功能。我们的目的是通过将两项 NIHTB-CB 任务与标准神经心理学测量及其与癫痫特征的关联进行比较，来评估两项 NIHTB-CB 任务作为小儿癫痫认知筛查工具的临床有效性。对 47 名 5-18 岁的癫痫患者进行了评估，其中包括 10 次重复评估。进行相关分析和一致性统计，以通过标准临床测量验证 NIHTB-CB 任务（侧翼抑制控制和注意力测试（侧翼）和模式比较处理速度测试（模式比较））。我们还检查了表现是否与癫痫特征相关，包括多疗法、癫痫发作年龄、癫痫类型和睡眠中癫痫电持续状态 (ESES) 病史。 NIHTB-CB 测试与执行功能、处理速度和智力的神经心理学测量具有中等到强的相关性。一致性统计表明敏感性比特异性更好。多种疗法和癫痫发作年龄较晚与模式比较表现较低有关。与非 ESES 患者相比，ESES 患者在测试中的表现没有显着差异。来自重复测量子集的试点数据表明了良好的变化分数范围。鉴于这两项 NIHTB 任务与评估执行功能、处理速度和智商的临床指标的相关性，它们作为临床筛查工具是可行的。这项研究支持使用这些任务作为简单、易于访问的筛查工具，以识别癫痫患者通常受影响的领域的认知功能障碍，并可能用于长期监测。