title: Risk of ischemic cerebrovascular and coronary events in adult users of anticonvulsant medications in routine care settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Older-generation anticonvulsants that highly induce cytochrome P450 enzyme system activity produce metabolic abnormalities that may increase cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of ischemic cerebrovascular and coronary events in adult new users of anticonvulsants that highly induce cytochrome P450 activity compared with other anticonvulsant agents, as observed in a routine care setting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This was a cohort study of patients 40 to 64 years old from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database who had initiated an anticonvulsant medication between 2001 and 2006 and had no recorded major coronary or cerebrovascular condition in the 6 months before treatment initiation. Propensity score (PS) matching was used to evaluate ischemic cerebrovascular and coronary risk among anticonvulsant new users. High-dimensional propensity score (hdPS)-matched analyses were used to confirm adjusted findings. The study identified 913 events in 166 031 unmatched new treatment episodes with anticonvulsant drugs. In a PS-matched population of 22 864 treatment episodes, the rate ratio (RR) for ischemic coronary or cerebrovascular events associated with highly inducing agents versus other agents was 1.22 (95% CI, 0.90-1.65). The RR moved to 0.99 (95% CI, 0.73-1.33) with adjustment for hdPS matching (RR, 1.47; 95% CI, 0.95-2.28 for cerebrovascular events; RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.47-1.05 for coronary events).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this exploratory analysis, there was no evidence of a consistent and statistically significant effect of initiating anticonvulsants that highly induce cytochrome P450 activity on ischemic coronary or cerebrovascular outcomes compared with other agents, given routine care utilization patterns.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patorno
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Diaz
authors.forename: Jerry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Avorn
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wahl
authors.forename: Rhonda L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Bohn
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mines
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneeweiss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000209:etiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000209:etiology*; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004790:Enzyme Induction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D057216:Propensity Score; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
keywords: anticonvulsant drugs; claims data; cohort study; myocardial infarction; stroke
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