Preliminary study on the efficacy and tolerability of newer anticonvulsants in a population of epileptic patients.

OBJECTIVE To study the efficacy and safety of newer antiepileptic drugs. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Clinical records of 461 epileptic patients attending the Consorcio General Hospital, Valencia, Spain, were reviewed. Demographic data, adverse reactions and clinical outcome were recorded. RESULTS One hundred and five patients experienced a total of 151 adverse drug reactions to antiepileptic medications. Adverse drug reactions occurred in the central nervous system (54.9%), skin (17.0%), gastrointestinal tract (13.2%), liver (4.9%), mouth (4.4%) and others (5.6%). The newer anticonvulsants were withdrawn in 19.1% of patients because of side effects, while older drugs were withdrawn in 9.3% of patients. Of the 461 patients, 78 (17.4%) experienced a > or = 50% reduction in seizure frequency when one of the newer anticonvulsants was added to their therapy. Older anticonvulsants were better tolerated than newer drugs. Tiagabine was the worst tolerated of all the drugs. CONCLUSION Our findings show that patients with simple partial secondary generalized epilepsy had a greater benefit when a newer anticonvulsant was added to the treatment regimen.