The clinical efficacy and adverse effects of levetiracetam treatment in the middle and old aged patients with partial seizures / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyse the effective rate and adverse effect of only levetiracetam (LEV) versus LEV plus other drugs in the treatment of middle and old aged patients with partial seizures (PS) and secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizure (SGTCS).Methods The self-control study was used and 59 elderly patients with PS and SGTCS were treated with LEV single or plus drug (therapeutic dose was 1000-2000 mg/d,bid).The effective rate and the side effects of LEV were observed and compared between LEV single and plus drug or between the patients with only epilepsy versus epilepsy plus other diseases,respectively.Results The effective ratios at the end of 3,6,9and 12 months after LEV treatment were 76.2％,70.6％,64.3％ and 66.7％,respectively and there were no significant difference among above time points (x2=1.911,P＞0.05).A chi-square test showed that the differences in effective ratios were not statistically significant (P＞ 0.05) between single and combination of drugs (x2 =1.437) and between two groups of patients at the end of 12 months.Clinical effect of LEV showed no remarkable difference between different types of epilepsy at the end of 6 months (x2 =1.315,P＞0.05)and 12 months(x2 =2.700,P＞0.05).The control ratio of epileptic attack was higher in single LEV than in combination drugs (x2 =10.83,P＜0.05).The total side effects were 13.6％,including somnolence,weakness,anorexia,headache,irritability and forgetfulness.Conclusions The curative effects of levetiracetam single or in combination are definite,stable and continuous for PS and SGTCS,especially in combination with other diseases.