Long-term assessment of oxcarbazepine in a naturalistic setting: a retrospective study

Background - New antiepileptics seem to be better tolerated by patients. The retention rate of an antiepileptic would be a useful indicator of its practical usefulness. Aims - To assess the long-term outcome of oxcarbazepine (OXC) in a naturalistic setting by determining the retention rate. Methods - This is a retrospective study. All epilepsy patients treated with OXC at a tertiary care epilepsy center during a period of 3.5 years were included in this study. Retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated for each cohort group using Kaplan-Meier estimates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Results - A total of 98 patients were studied. OXC was used as monotherapy in 14 (14.3%) and as add-on therapy in 84 (85.7%). The mean daily dose was 947 ± 492 mg and 60% received ≤900 mg/day. Using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated to be 0.853 (0.749-0.956) and 0.737 (0.570-0.904), respectively. Conclusions - OXC is well tolerated by patients as both monotherapy and add-on therapy. © 2007 The Authors.