title: Antiepileptic drug use in Austrian nursing home residents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Currently around 30% of all newly developed seizures are diagnosed in persons older than 65 years. Five to 17% of nursing home-residents take antiepileptic drugs. The aim of our study was to analyze the type and frequency of prescribed antiepileptic drugs, as well as their indication, co-morbidities and co-medications in institutionalized elderly in Austria.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study, which included all residents of the seven public nursing homes in Innsbruck, Austria. The data of 828 probands were extracted from the charts at site and maintained anonymously. The data collection was followed by descriptive statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  70 (8.5%; 26 M/44 F) of the 828 (192 M/636 F) residents took at least one antiepileptic medication. In 51.5% the reason for the prescription were epileptic seizures - yielding a minimum prevalence of 4.5%. The most often used antiepileptic drugs were gabapentin (37%), levetiracetam (24%) and valproate (18.5%). The three most common co-morbidities were arterial hypertension (49%), ischemic stroke (36%) and other cerebrovascular diseases (29%). Six to nine co-medications were prescribed in 41%, 26% had more than 10 additional drugs and 91% were treated with proconvulsive co-medications (64/70, median 2, range 0-6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Austrian nursing home residents receive more frequently newer antiepileptic drugs compared to other countries, but co-prescription of proconvulsive drugs is common.
authors.affiliation: Innsbruck Medical University, Austria.
authors.forename: Doris Patricia
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Griener
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trinka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants