Blink rate in pediatric complex partial seizure disorder.

This study examined spontaneous blink rate, a putative measure of dopamine function, in 30 children with complex partial epilepsy and 61 normal children. The children with epilepsy had significantly lower blink rates than the normal children in a conversation and a verbal recall task, particularly if they had a schizophrenia-like psychosis, EEG evidence for left focal epileptic activity, illogical thinking, discourse deficits, and distractibility. They modulated their blink rates across a listening, a conversation, and a verbal recall task like the normal children. Given previously reported low blink rates in schizophrenic children, these findings suggest that children with complex partial epilepsy or schizophrenia might have similar biological features.