title: Efficacy and safety of oxcarbazepine in the treatment of children with epilepsy: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the efficacy and safety of oxcarbazepine (OXC) in the treatment of children with epilepsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, SinoMed (Chinese BioMedical Literature Service System, China), and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (China) database were systematically reviewed. Eligible studies were those that compared the efficacy and safety of OXC with other antiepileptic drugs in epilepsy. Risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) was calculated using fixed-effects or random-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven RCTs with a total of 1,241 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with other antiepileptic drugs (sodium valproate, levetiracetam, phenytoin, and placebo), OXC was associated with similar seizure-free rate (RR =1.06, 95% CI: 0.94, 1.20;P=0.366) and percentage reduction from baseline in seizure frequency (for ≥75% reduction: RR =1.15, 95% CI: 0.88, 1.49;P=0.310; for 50%-75% reduction: RR =1.12, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.39;P=0.301; for <50% reduction: RR =0.79, 95% CI: 0.56, 1.12;P=0.179). Moreover, patients treated with OXC had a comparable incidence of adverse events compared with those treated with other antiepileptic drugs (RR =1.01, 95% CI: 0.92, 1.11;P=0.760).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OXC showed similar effects and safety as other antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of children with epilepsy. Further well-conducted, large-scale RCTs are needed to validate these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng City, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chengzhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: children; epilepsy; meta-analysis; oxcarbazepine