DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i06.001

Pages: 2045-2053

Background: Seizure disorders are most often treated with pharmacotherapy. Optimal antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment completely controls seizure episodes in 60% to 95% of epileptic patients. Choice of appropriate AED depends on several factors such as correct epilepsy diagnosis, patient’s convenience and risk of ADRs. Objective: To compare the use of older, newer and combination of anti-epileptics prescribed to patients diagnosed with epilepsy. Methodology: After getting approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee, the study was conducted by the Department of Pharmacology in association with the Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar. The patients coming to the Neurology Department, SMHS Hospital were studied. The participants were provided with explicit explanation for their inclusion in the Study by instituting Written Informed Consent, duly translated in local Vernacular. It was a cross-sectional, observational study for a period of one and a half year. An assessment of the causality and allocation of ADRs was done using Naranjo’s monitoring scale and WHO-UMC scale. The severity of ADRs was determined by using the modified Hart Wig and Siegel Scale (1992). Results: The most frequently prescribed drugs to the study population were phenytoin (31.3%), valproate (23.1%) and carbamazepine (14.1%). The other drugs prescribed to the study population included clobazam (6%), oxcarbazepine (5.2%), leviteracetam (3.7%), phenobarbitone (3%), lamotrigine (3%), topiramate (3%) and gabapentin (0.7%). The drug combinations prescribed to the study population included valproate plus lamotrigine (1.5%), valproate plus topiramate (1.5%), phenytoin plus lamotrigine (1.5%), carbamazepine plus leviteracetam (1.5%) and phenytoin plus gabapentin (0.7%). ADRs were present in 57.6% of the patients on older antiepileptics as compared to 39.4% of the patients on newer antiepileptics and 22.2% of the patients on a combination of two drugs. There was significant sta