Antiepileptic drugs and memory.

Assessing the effects of medication on cognitive functions including memory is fraught with methodological problems. This article illustrates the range of approaches that have been employed. Medication effects have been more readily demonstrated in patients with intractable epilepsy, in whom drug dosages are higher and the risk of polytherapy is greater. Newly diagnosed cases and individuals treated with monotherapy show fewer effects. Evaluation of memory functions in most studies has been very limited, and where effects have been recorded these may well be secondary to changes in attentional level or mental processing speed.