Does familial Mediterranean fever affect cognitive function in children? Electrophysiological preliminary study

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a periodic autoinflammatory disease with subclinical inflammation occurring between attacks. The aim of the study was to prospectively evaluate the cognitive function of children diagnosed with FMF that were under colchicine therapy and compare them with healthy controls through electrophysiologically event-related potentials (ERPs) study. Methods: Twelve children with FMF and 12 healthy controls were included in the study. During the electroencephalography recordings, all participants were instructed to discriminate rare stimuli (target stimuli) from frequent stimuli (standard stimuli) by pressing a botton on a mouse immediately following the target stimulus. P300, the cognitive component of ERP, was obtained in response to target stimuli and its amplitude and latency were measured. Results: The amplitude of the P300 of the FMF patients was higher and the latencies of the P300 of the FMF patients were shorter than the amplitudes and latencies of control patients, respectively. The difference between the groups was statistically significant for amplitude but not for latency. Conclusions: Cognitive processing reflecting allocation of attention and visual processing speed seems not to be negatively affected in FMF patients with homozygous M694V mutations undergoing colchicine treatment. As this study is unique in its evaluation of the cognitive function of children with FMF, these findings may be helpful for counseling families and patients affected by the condition.

KEYWORDS:

• FMF
• children
• cognitive function
• event-related potentials
• P300

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gonca Keskindemirci

Gonca Keskindemirci is a specialist in Pediatric Department in Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul Turkey.

Gökçer Eskikurt

Gökçer Eskikurt is a PhD student in Department of Neuroscience, Istanbul University, Institute of Experimental Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.

Nuray Aktay Ayaz

Nuray Aktay Ayaz is an associate professor in Pediatric Rheumatology Department in Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.

Mustafa Çakan

Mustafa Çakan is a specialist in Pediatric Rheumatology Department in Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Training and Reseach Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.

Numan Ermutlu

Numan Ermutlu is a professor in Physiology Department in İstanbul Bilim University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.

Ümmühan İşoğlu Alkaç

Ümmühan İşoğlu Alkaç is a professor in Physiology Department in İstanbul University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.