Long-term effectiveness and safety of antiepileptic drugs in children and adults

Abstract

AIM: To conduct a retrospective comparative analysis of the efficacy and safety of epilepsy therapy with antiepileptic drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analysis of the treatment of 428 patients with epilepsy at the Childrens City Hospital No. 8 in Kazan, receiving antiepileptic drugs. RESULTS: It was found that valproic acid is more effective in the treatment of idiopathic generalized epilepsies compared to focal epilepsies (p = 0.0006). Valproate and carbamazepine were the most effective in the treatment of focal epilepsy with short- and long-term follow-up. Valproic acid is more effective than topiramate (p = 0.02), oxcarbazepine (p = 0.003), and levetiracetam (p = 0.003) in the treatment of focal epilepsy in short- and long-term follow-up. Carbamazepine is more effective than topiramate (p = 0.01), oxcarbazepine (p = 0.02), and levetiracetam (p = 0.001) in the treatment of focal epilepsy in long-term follow-up. It was revealed that more often they complained about side effects when using carbamazepine (63.2%). Levetiracetam was found to be better tolerated compared to valproate (p = 0.0006) and carbamazepine (p = 0.0006). Topiramate is better tolerated than carbamazepine (p = 0.02) and valproate (p = 0.03). Oxcarbazepine is better tolerated than carbamazepine in women (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: When choosing an antiepileptic drug, it is necessary to be guided by the principle: first the basic, and then the drugs of the next generations, in the future, rely on information about the tolerability of the drug. It is necessary to evaluate the therapeutic effect of antiepileptic drugs with long-term observation, and use the criterion of complete absence of seizures as an indicator of the effectiveness of drugs.