title: Efficacy and tolerability of topiramate in childhood and adolescent epilepsy: a clinical experience.
abstract: A 3-year retrospective review was undertaken of the use of topiramate in 51 children aged 3-16 years with partial and generalized epilepsies who attended a tertiary referral epilepsy centre in a large children's hospital. The mean follow-up period was 19 months (range 6-33 months). Twenty-six children (51%) were still receiving topiramate at the time of their last review. Fifteen children (29%) showed a greater than 50% reduction in their seizure frequency and four children (8%) became seizure free, three on topiramate monotherapy. The drug appeared to be most effective in children with moderate learning difficulties with 75% showing an improvement in seizure control compared with 25% of children with normal educational functioning. Topiramate was withdrawn in 25 patients. The reasons for withdrawal included adverse effects in 20, lack of effect in three and worsening of seizures in two patients. Adverse side effects were reported in 57% of the 51 patients. The majority of the side effects were related to behavioural and cognitive difficulties, with less-common side effects including anorexia, weight loss and headaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Appleton
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosenbloom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005632:Fructose / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077236:Topiramate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000077236:Topiramate; D005632:Fructose