Table 1.
Patient characteristics for the three risk categories1
| Low risk (n = 16) | Intermediate risk (n = 34) | High risk (n = 5) | |
| General | |||
| Male/female | 5/11 (31%/69%) | 16/18 (47%/53%) | 0/5 (0%/100%) |
| Age (yr)2 | 39.5 ± 13.4 | 50.7 ± 12.5a | 42.4 ± 15.8 |
| Educational level3 | 5 (range 2-6) | 5 (range 2-7) | 5 (range 4-6) |
| Epilepsy-related | |||
| Symptomatic/non-symptomatic epilepsy | 2/14 (13/88%) | 15/19 (44/56%) | 0/5 |
| Seizure frequency | |||
| Weekly | 0 | 1 (3%) | 0 |
| Monthly | 4 (25%) | 3 (9%) | 0 |
| Yearly | 2 (13%) | 6 (18%) | 2 (40%) |
| Seizure free | 10 (63%) | 24 (71%) | 3 (60%) |
| Years since epilepsy onset2 | 22.7 ± 11.7 | 30.4 ± 13.4 | 26.8 ± 23.3 |
| Epilepsy severity score2 | 1.4 ± 0.8 | 1.2 ± 1.0 | 1.0 ± 0.7 |
| AED-related | |||
| Mono-/polytherapy | 16/0 | 8/26 (24/77%)a | 3/2 (60/40%)b |
| Medication type | |||
| CBZ | 0 | 17 (50%) | 1 (20%) |
| LEV | 7 (44%) | 6 (18%) | 0 |
| LTG | 9 (56%) | 10 (29%) | 1 (20%) |
| OXC | 0 | 4 (12%) | 0 |
| PHT | 0 | 16 (47%) | 0 |
| TPM | 0 | 0 | 5 (100%) |
| VPA | 0 | 7 (21%) | 1 (20%) |
| Drug load2,4 | 1.3 ± 0.6 | 1.8 ± 0.7a | 1.2 ± 1.0 |
Differences between the risk groups were tested using a Fisher’s exact test (gender, symptomatic epilepsy, number of different AEDs), a Mann-Whitney test (educational level, seizure frequency, epilepsy severity score), or a student’s t test (all remaining variables).
Indicates significant differences between the low and intermediate risk category (P < 0.05);
Indicates differences between the low and high risk category (P < 0.05). 1Low risk: Lamotrigine (LTG), levetiracetam (LEV); Intermediate risk: Valproate (VPA), carbamazepine (CBZ), oxcarbazepine (OXC) and phenytoin (PHT); High risk: Topiramate (TPM);
Mean ± SD;
Median (range). Scores are according to Verhage[30], range 1 (did not finish primary school) to 7 (Master’s degree);
The drug load is defined as the ratio of the prescribed daily dose to the defined daily dose[29]. AED: Antiepileptic drug.