Abstract

A CROSS-SECTIONAL OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON DRUGS USED IN EPILEPTIC DISORDER AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, NAGAPATTINAM, TAMILNADU

Dr. M. Arhoul Rennies*, C. Sivaprakash and V. Vinith

ABSTRACT

Background: A brain function disease known as epilepsy is characterized by the unpredictable and recurrent occurrence of seizures. A seizure is a brief change in behavior brought on by groups of brain neurons firing in a disorganized, synchronized, and rhythmic manner. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional observational study, conducted in a government medical college hospital in Nagapattinam for six months (April-September 2022). Patient demographic details, types of epilepsy, types of anti-epileptic drugs used, and types of therapy in about 118 patients were described. Objective: To study the prescribing pattern of antiepileptic drugs and to evaluate the types of therapy used in epileptic disorder. Results: A total of 118 prescriptions were analyzed, with more males 81 (69%) than females 37 (31%). Epilepsy was more commonly seen in patients of the age group of 2–10 years (27%), followed by febrile seizures (27%). The majority of them received combinational therapy (70%) with the most commonly prescribed two drug combinations being clobazam and lorazepam; three-drug combinations were phenytoin, sodium valproate, and diazepam, among others than Monotherapy (30%) with most commonly used phenytoin and followed by lorazepam and diazepam. Conclusion: In our study, the majority of the patients were males with an age group of 2–10 years of children and the most commonly used drugs were combinational therapy: two drug combinations were clobazam and lorazepam; three-drug combinations were phenytoin, sodium valproate, and diazepam.

Keywords: Epilepsy, Anti-epileptic drugs, Prescription pattern, Types of epilepsy, Monotherapy and combination therapy, Older and newer anti-epileptic drugs.