Abstract
Background and purpose
Based on the time until treatment failure, we retrospectively analyzed 389 children to compare the long-term effectiveness of first-line antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in children with generalized onset or unclassified epileptic seizures.
Methods
Analyses were based on time until treatment failure and time until remission.
Results
In terms of time until treatment failure, the failure rates of topiramate and carbamazepine were higher than that of sodium valproate (p < 0.05). For time until 1-year remission, sodium valproate was found to be significantly better than either topiramate or carbamazepine (p < 0.05). For the subgroup with generalized onset epilepsy, sodium valproate was much better than either topiramate or carbamazepine (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between topiramate and carbamazepine (p = 0.319). For unclassified epileptic seizures, no significant differences were found among the three AEDs.
Conclusion
Sodium valproate should be the drug of choice for patients with children with generalized onset, and no significant differences were found among the three AEDs in unclassified epileptic seizures.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the patients who participated in this study. This research was supported by grant nos. 30770747 and 30801249 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the grant nos. 7042024 and 7081002 from the National Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, and grant no. 2003–2037 from the Capital Development Foundation of Beijing and Hygiene Industry-specific Research Projects of China (No. 200802074). The sponsors of the research had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or manuscript preparation.
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Ding, YX., Zou, LP., Ma, MS. et al. Retrospective analysis of the effectiveness of first-line antiepileptic drugs for generalized onset and unclassified epileptic seizures in Chinese children. Childs Nerv Syst 27, 279–284 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-010-1255-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-010-1255-2