IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i8p4509-d789799.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pharmacovigilance in Pediatric Patients with Epilepsy Using Antiepileptic Drugs

Author

Listed:
  • Dorota Kopciuch

    (Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, 60-806 Poznan, Poland)

  • Krzysztof Kus

    (Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, 60-806 Poznan, Poland)

  • Jędrzej Fliciński

    (Department of Developmental Neurology, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland)

  • Barbara Steinborn

    (Department of Developmental Neurology, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland)

  • Anna Winczewska-Wiktor

    (Department of Developmental Neurology, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland)

  • Anna Paczkowska

    (Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, 60-806 Poznan, Poland)

  • Tomasz Zaprutko

    (Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, 60-806 Poznan, Poland)

  • Piotr Ratajczak

    (Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Social Pharmacy, Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7, 60-806 Poznan, Poland)

  • Elżbieta Nowakowska

    (Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Institute of Health Sciences, Collegium Medicum, University of Zielona Gora, Licealna 9 Street, 65-417 Zielona Góra, Poland)

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in pediatric epileptic patients on mono- or polytherapy. Method: We evaluated eighty consecutive patients that met the following inclusion criteria: aged ≤18 years; diagnosed with epilepsy for at least one year; a stable dose of AED for at least three months; verbal consent to participation in the study. Patients were asked if they had experienced any adverse drug reaction (ADR) related to the AED. Afterward, regardless of the answer, they were interviewed based on a detailed semi-structured questionnaire about the presence of ADRs associated with the AED. The data were analyzed regarding the use of monotherapy or polytherapy. Results: Ninety-seven percent of the patients reported having experienced ADRs related to AEDs. The greatest number of seizures affected the group of patients treated with monotherapy (both at baseline and at followup), but the greatest number of ADRs were observed among patients treated with polytherapy. In patients on monotherapy, the most frequent ADRs reported at baseline included fatigue and somnolence, and among patients with polytherapy, it was fatigue and hair loss. Conclusion: Children on polytherapy were significantly more likely to develop ADRs compared to those on monotherapy, but a statistically significant improvement in seizure frequency was also observed in the group of patients on polytherapy. Pharmacovigilance is very important in children with AEDs, so that ADRs can be identified early and managed appropriately.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorota Kopciuch & Krzysztof Kus & Jędrzej Fliciński & Barbara Steinborn & Anna Winczewska-Wiktor & Anna Paczkowska & Tomasz Zaprutko & Piotr Ratajczak & Elżbieta Nowakowska, 2022. "Pharmacovigilance in Pediatric Patients with Epilepsy Using Antiepileptic Drugs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-8, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4509-:d:789799
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4509/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4509/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4509-:d:789799. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.