Long-term follow-up of topiramate and lamotrigine: a perspective on quality of life

We conducted a prospective, long-term audit of lamotrigine and topiramate as add-on treatment for refractory epilepsy. A total of 55 patients participated in the study. Five years after starting the drug 7/20 patients remained on lamotrigine and 13/35 on topiramate. The patients still on the study d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Seizure (London, England) England), 2002-09, Vol.11 (6), p.356-360
Main Authors: Kaiser, Stefan, Selai, Caroline E, Trimble, Michael R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
audit
Electroencephalography
Epilepsy - diagnosis
Epilepsy - drug therapy
Follow-Up Studies
Fructose - analogs & derivatives
Fructose - therapeutic use
Humans
lamotrigine
outcome
Prospective Studies
QOLAS
Quality of Life
Severity of Illness Index
Time
topiramate
Triazines - therapeutic use
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Summary:We conducted a prospective, long-term audit of lamotrigine and topiramate as add-on treatment for refractory epilepsy. A total of 55 patients participated in the study. Five years after starting the drug 7/20 patients remained on lamotrigine and 13/35 on topiramate. The patients still on the study drugs showed an improvement in seizure frequency, with 5/7 patients being seizure free on lamotrigine and 4/13 on topiramate. Furthermore, we assessed quality of life using the quality of life assessment schedule and found a significant improvement for the patients still on the study drugs. These data suggest that about one third of the patients on lamotrigine or topiramate as add-on therapy stay on the drug in the long term. These patients are likely to benefit with respect to objective and subjective outcome measures.
ISSN:1059-1311
1532-2688
DOI:10.1053/seiz.2002.0681