Prescribing Pattern of Levetiracetam in Epilepsy Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Centre in Manipur

Yumnam Sarita Devi; V Gobinath; Ngangom Gunindro; Paonam Shyamashakhi Devi; Nameirakpam Meena

doi:10.17485/IJST/v16i2.2204

Article

Prescribing Pattern of Levetiracetam in Epilepsy Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Centre in Manipur

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/IJST/v16i2.2204

Year: 2023, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 77-81

Original Article

Prescribing Pattern of Levetiracetam in Epilepsy Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Centre in Manipur

Yumnam Sarita Devi¹, V Gobinath^1*, Ngangom Gunindro², Paonam Shyamashakhi Devi², Nameirakpam Meena³

¹Department of Pharmacology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Manipur University, India
²Professor, Dept of Pharmacology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Manipur University, India
³Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Manipur University, India

*Corresponding Author
Email: [email protected]

Received Date:16 November 2022, Accepted Date:02 December 2022, Published Date:06 January 2023

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Objective: The objective is to shed light on the prescribing pattern of levetiracetam, a newer antiepileptic drug, in the treatment of different types of epilepsy. Methods: A record-based cross-sectional study of epilepsy patients who reported to the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Unit in the Department of Pharmacology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Manipur, was conducted. Case records of patients receiving levetiracetam and reporting from January 2017 to December 2020 were included. The patient’s age, gender, and weight; clinical diagnosis; levetiracetam dose; and other co-administered AEDs were all examined. Findings: Of the 17 cases, the majority of the patients were adults, and 52.9% were males. The patients’ average body weight (kg) was 49.8 9.4. Generalised tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) constituted the majority of the cases (47.1%), followed by simple partial seizures, complex partial seizures (23.5% of each), and absence seizures (5.9%). 70.11% of the cases received LEV monotherapy, while the remaining cases were prescribed combination therapy. LEV alone was prescribed in 87.5% of GTCS cases. The median daily dose of LEV was 1000 mg (IQR-625). Novelty : The observation that levetiracetam alone is prescribed in the majority of GTCS cases, the commonest type of epilepsy, is an eye-opener for another new monotherapy option for GTCS. Keywords: Prescribing pattern; Levetiracetam; Antiepileptic; Epilepsy; Monotherapy

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Copyright

© 2023 Devi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published By Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee)