Trends in Choosing Conventional Versus New Antiepileptic Drugs in Epilepsy Treatment

Objectives:An analysis of clinical practice trends in use of conventional drugs to treat epilepsy versus newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) was conducted.Methods:Medical records of patients who presented at the clinic with diagnosis of epilepsy 2007-2012 were investigated retrospectively.Results:Data of 1126 patients were evaluated. Among them, 624 (55%) patients were treated using monotherapy, 449 (40%) patients received polytherapy, and 53 (5%) patients had no therapy. While 916 (81%) of the patients were using conventional AEDs, 447 (40%) of the patients were using newer AEDs. A total of 887 (79%) of the patients were using either valproate or carbamazepine. Of the 624 patients using monotherapy, 523 (84%) were on conventional AEDs and 101 (16%) patients were taking newer AEDs.Conclusion:In a previous study, the authors found the percentage choosing newer AEDs to be 1% before 1994, 10% in the period 1995– 2000, and 14% in the period 2000–2007. Although the present study indicates that there was an increase (40%) in the use of newer AEDs in 2007–2012, it seems that conventional AEDs are still a first-line treatment choice, at least in Turkish clinical practice. Yet as both epileptologists and patients gain experience with newer AEDs, the trend is likely to change.