[What the data on utilization of antiepileptic agents reveals]

Using the method of expressing the consumption of anti-epileptic drugs by the number of defined daily doses per 1000 population per day (DDD/1000/d), data covering the three-year period from September 1984 to August 1987 in districts of the Czech Socialist Republic are presented in tables. The mean and liminal values are given for anti-epileptics as a whole and mean values of the phenytoin consumption in region, incl. liminal values of the percentage ratio of Sanepil (phenytoin 80 mg, phenobarbital 18.5 mg) in districts of different regions of the CSR. On the enclosed map for the first annual period districts where this ratio was 25%, 50%, 75% or more (only in the South Moravian region) are hatched. In the subsequent tables are districts with greater changes of this indicator than +5% and -10% in the course of the three years of the investigation. The greatest drop was recorded in the district where there was a new leading neurologist who came from the area of another medical school to the South Moravian region. The authors discuss the influence of the medical school and present results of an enquiry by means of questionnaires among neurologists regarding the place of medical studies of neurologists in the region and views on the advantage of Sanepil, as compared with pure phenytoin.