Antiepileptic drug status in adult outpatients with mental retardation

Charts of 100 patients with mental retardation and epilepsy from the community were reviewed to survey use of antiepileptic drugs and examine the relation of mental retardation and seizure type to antiepileptic drug status. Sixty patients were on monotherapy and 40, on two or three antiepileptic drugs. Most subjects had generalized tonic-clonic seizures (68%), but there was a trend for those with profound retardation to have relatively more mixed seizures. Subjects on more than one antiepileptic drug were less likely to have fully controlled seizures (50%). Individuals with mixed seizures were comparatively more likely to be on more than one antiepileptic drug and have uncontrolled seizures. Implications for clinical management of epilepsy in adults with mental retardation were discussed.