Long-term assessment of oxcarbazepine in a naturalistic setting: a retrospective study.
BACKGROUND
New antiepileptics seem to be better tolerated by patients. The retention rate of an antiepileptic would be a useful indicator of its practical usefulness.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the long-term outcome of oxcarbazepine (OXC) in a naturalistic setting by determining the retention rate.


METHODS
This is a retrospective study. All epilepsy patients treated with OXC at a tertiary care epilepsy center during a period of 3.5 years were included in this study. Retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated for each cohort group using Kaplan-Meier estimates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals.


RESULTS
A total of 98 patients were studied. OXC was used as monotherapy in 14 (14.3%) and as add-on therapy in 84 (85.7%). The mean daily dose was 947 +/- 492 mg and 60% received < or = 900 mg/day. Using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated to be 0.853 (0.749-0.956) and 0.737 (0.570-0.904), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
OXC is well tolerated by patients as both monotherapy and add-on therapy.
Seneviratne
U
U
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Vic., Australia. wusenevi@optusnet.com.au
D'Souza
W
W
Cook
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D002220:Carbamazepine; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine