Table 1.

Summary of medications used for childhood absence epilepsy

Name	Initial dose	Maintenance dose	Maximum dose
Ethosuximide	10–15 mg/kg/day	20–30 mg/kg/day	40 mg/kg/day up to 2 g/day
Valproate	10–15 mg/kg/day	20–30 mg/kg/day	60 mg/kg/day up to 3 g/day
Lamotrigine	For patients not taking valproate or other enzyme inducers: 0.3 mg/kg/day For patients taking valproate: 0.15 mg/kg/day For patients taking enzyme inducers and NOT valproate: 0.6 mg/kg/day	For patients not taking valproate or other enzyme inducers: 4.5–7.5 mg/kg/day For patients taking valproate: 1–5 mg/kg/day For patients taking enzyme inducers and NOT valproate: 5–15 mg/kg/day	For patients not taking valproate or other enzyme inducers: 300 mg/day For patients taking valproate: 200 mg/day For patients taking enzyme inducers and NOT valproate: 400 mg/day
Clobazam	<30 kg: 5 mg/day >30 kg: 10 mg/day	<30 kg: 10–20 mg/day >30 kg: 40 mg/day	<30 kg: 40 mg/day >30 kg: 60–80 mg/day
Levetiracetam	20–30 mg/kg/day	40 mg/kg/day	60–90 mg/kg/day up to 3 g/day
Topiramate	1–3 mg/kg/day	5–9 mg/kg/day	15 mg/kg/day up to 1600 mg/day
Zonisamide	1–2 mg/kg/day	5–8 mg/kg/day	12 mg/kg/day up to 1 g/day