Prescribing Pattern of Antiepileptic Drugs in Adults in a South Indian Tertiary care Hospital

Our study describes the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) utilization patterns in Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospital and Research Center during January 2008 to May 2011. More research studies are required in this area due to lack of well-defined studies in India to conclude which is the most frequent class of epilepsy seen with the AED's used. We retrieved prescription data from patient profile forms and medical record department. We documented essential data in a Patient Profile Form, specifically designed for our study. A total of 108 patients data were recorded in the study. In our study we found that percentage of men suffering from epilepsy was 61.11% (66 nos.) and percentage of females was 38.88%. Our data shows that most of the patients 33 (30.55%) were from the age group of 40-50 years; followed by 28 (25.92%) of patients in the age group of 29-39 years and 16 (14.81%) patients were in the each age group of 18-28 years and 51-61 years. The most common epilepsy was Generalized Tonic-Clonic seizure 68 (62.96%) followed by Simple Partial Seizures 11 (10.18%) and Myoclonic Seizures 8 (7.40%) respectively. Most commonly prescribed drug concluded by our study is Phenobarbitone which accounts for 61 (56.41%) in both the genders, followed by Phenytoin 38 (35.18%) and Valproic acid (VA) usage was 24 (22.22%). Monotherapy is the type of therapy most frequently used in all types of seizures. The selection of AEDs is based on the efficacy for specific seizures. The most frequently prescribed AED in our study was Phenobarbital followed by Phenytoin, VA, Carbamazepine, and Lamotrigine due to the minimal adverse drug reaction of Phenobarbital in comparison with the other AEDs. We had found that as age progressed incidence of epilepsy increased.