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Related Experiment Videos

Overtreatment in children with epilepsy.

Gregory L Holmes1

  • 1Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston, Hunnewell 2, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. gregory.holmesg@tch.harvard.edu

Epilepsy Research
|November 26, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Children with epilepsy often receive excessive antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment. Reducing older sedative AEDs can improve behavior and seizure control, but lack of effective therapies hinders progress.

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Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Clinical Pharmacology

Background:

  • Children with epilepsy face risks of overtreatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).
  • Overtreatment contributes to morbidity in childhood epilepsy.
  • Reasons include inappropriate drug selection, polytherapy, and treating non-epileptic behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the issue of AED overtreatment in pediatric epilepsy.
  • To discuss factors contributing to overtreatment.
  • To emphasize the need for improved therapeutic options.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current literature on AED use in children with epilepsy.
  • Analysis of reasons for overtreatment.
  • Discussion of the impact of sedative AEDs.

Main Results:

  • The extent of overtreatment is not fully known but is a growing concern.
  • Older sedative AEDs are frequently used despite newer options.
  • Withdrawal of sedative AEDs can improve behavior and seizure control.

Conclusions:

  • Overtreatment with AEDs is a significant issue in pediatric epilepsy.
  • Lack of effective therapies for many childhood epileptic syndromes is a major obstacle.
  • Development of novel, effective treatments is crucial to reduce reliance on potentially detrimental AEDs.

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