Lamotrigine in patients with epilepsy and comorbid depressive symptoms

This open-label study evaluated the antidepressant qualities of lamotrigine (LTG) in people with epilepsy.

Eligible patients exhibited low to moderate depressive symptoms and required a change in antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy, but were excluded if they had a major depressive disorder (MDD). Lamotrigine was added onto a stable AED regimen, and self-report instruments were administered to evaluate changes in mood states. Evaluations were conducted at baseline, at the end of 19 weeks of adjunctive treatment, and 36 weeks following conversion to monotherapy.

One hundred and fifty-eight patients with epilepsy participated; 96 patients completed adjunctive treatment, and 66 patients completed monotherapy. Intent-to-treat analyses for all instruments showed improvement in depression scores after adjunctive LTG treatment. Improvement was maintained for those converted to monotherapy.

These data suggest that LTG may have antidepressant activity for patients with epilepsy and comorbid low to moderate depressive symptoms, and warrant a randomized controlled trial for validation.