Cognitive impairment in adults with epilepsy: The relationship between subjective and objective assessments of cognition

Self-report or caregiver report questionnaires identify patients with epilepsy and objective cognitive impairment more accurately than patients with intact cognition. Those without objective evidence of cognitive impairment may, nevertheless, perceive themselves as having memory dysfunction; it is these patients, therefore, who most require both subjective and objective assessments of cognition, including carers' assessments, in order to establish the nature of their symptoms. None of these assessment measures can be used as a reliable proxy for another, each contributes individually to a comprehensive assessment of cognition, and all must be used in conjunction with measures of mood and anxiety.