Folate metabolism and problem behaviour in mentally handicapped epileptics.

Two groups of mentally handicapped residents were studied consisting of 32 epileptics on anti-epileptic medication and 32 non-epileptic controls. The epileptic group showed a significantly low serum folate level compared with the non-epileptic control group. Serum vitamin B12 and behaviour rating did not show any significant difference between two groups. Comparison of patients receiving phenytoin and those who were not showed significantly lower serum folate in the sub-group receiving phenytoin, but there was no significant difference between the sub-groups with respect to vitamin B12 or behaviour problem rating.