Assessment of adverse events and quality of life in epilepsy: design of a new community-based trial

Improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become recognized as an essential component of treating patients with epilepsy. In recent years, several rating scales have been developed that focus on both common adverse effects and various aspects of HRQOL that are more relevant to this patien...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epilepsy & behavior 2004-12, Vol.5 (6), p.841-846
Main Authors: Privitera, Michael, Ficker, David M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adverse effects
Anticonvulsants - administration & dosage
Anticonvulsants - adverse effects
Antiepileptic drug
Carbamazepine
Carbamazepine - administration & dosage
Carbamazepine - adverse effects
Clinical trial
Clinical Trials as Topic
Delivery of Health Care
Drug Administration Schedule
Epilepsy
Epilepsy - drug therapy
Epilepsy - psychology
Extended release
Health Status Indicators
Humans
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Quality of Life
Surveys and Questionnaires
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become recognized as an essential component of treating patients with epilepsy. In recent years, several rating scales have been developed that focus on both common adverse effects and various aspects of HRQOL that are more relevant to this patient population. Increasingly, such assessments are being incorporated into clinical trials, as it becomes clear that improvements in overall quality of life are an important feature of drug therapy. Here we present the design of a large, community-based trial evaluating the effects of switching from immediate-release carbamazepine to twice-daily, beaded, extended-release carbamazepine (Carbatrol). As this trial involves switching formulations of the same compound, we expect to find only small differences in efficacy but significant differences in tolerability and quality-of-life measures. To identify appropriate instruments that could measure these factors, here we review several epilepsy-specific scales used to monitor adverse events and HRQOL and discuss their potential utility in the context of the proposed trial.
ISSN:1525-5050
1525-5069
DOI:10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.08.001