A Prospective, Observational Study On The Effectiveness Of New Antiepileptic Drugs As First Bitherapy In The Daily Clinical Practice

Responder = decrease in number of seizures by >=50 percent (%) during the last 3 months of treatment before discontinuation (assessed at Month 3 and Month 6) versus the number of seizures that occurred during the 3 months before the baseline visit (baseline).

Percent of participants with reduction in number of seizures >=25% and >=75% during the last 3 months of treatment before discontinuation (assessed at Month 3 and Month 6) versus the 3 month period before the baseline visit.

Crisis was defined as the total number of seizures during the study, the seizures at month 3 plus the seizures at month 6. The percent of days without crisis is number of days of study (date of last visit minus date of baseline visit) without crisis divided by number of days of study, multiplied by 100.

Number of days to first seizure after baseline.

Retention rate: percent of participants who continued on study medication throughout the 6 Month period after inclusion in the study.

Patient Global Impression of Change VAS: subject rated instrument to measure subject's change in overall status; range from 0 (much better) to 10 (much worse).

Percent of participants who started on more than one treatment (bitherapy) and reached monotherapy by end of study.

HADS: subject rated questionnaire with 2 subscales. HADS-A assesses state of generalized anxiety (anxious mood, restlessness, anxious thoughts, panic attacks); HADS-D assesses state of lost interest and diminished pleasure response (lowering of hedonic tone). Each subscale comprised of 7 items with range 0 (no presence of anxiety or depression) to 3 (severe feeling of anxiety or depression). Total score 0 to 21 for each subscale; higher score indicates greater severity of anxiety and depression symptoms.

QOLIE-10: 10-item questionnaire evaluates health-related quality of life in individuals with epliepsy. Comprised of 7 components: seizure worry, overall quality of life, emotional well-being, energy, cognitive functioning, medication effects (physical and mental effects), and social function (work, driving, social function). Total score rated 0 to 100; higher score = higher quality of life.

Assessment of the health condition of the subjects using the EQ-5D VAS: subject rated questionnaire to assess health-related quality of life in terms of a single index value. Using the VAS subjects rated current health state on a scale from 0 (worst imaginable health state) to 100 (best imaginable health state); higher scores indicate a better health state.

Subject rated instrument to assess key constructs of sleep; assesses sleep quality and quantity. Consists of a 6-item and 9-item overall sleep problems index measuring time to fall asleep and sleep duration in past 4 weeks; 5 subscales rated 1 (all the time) to 6 (none of the time): sleep disturbance, snoring, awaken short of breath, somnolence, and adequacy. Transformed scores range = 0 to 100; higher score indicates greater intensity of attribute. Two additional subscales = sleep quantity (range 0-24 hours) and optimal sleep (number of participants with optimal sleep 7-8 hours per night).

MOS-SS: subject rated instrument used to assess the key constructs of sleep; assesses sleep quantity and quality and is comprised of 12 items yielding 7 subscale scores and 2 composite index scores. Optimal sleep subscale is derived from sleep quantity average hours of sleep over the past 4 weeks; percent of participants with response YES (optimal) if sleep quantilty was 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

Numerical assessment of change in the number of visits to a specialist or the emergency room because of epilepsy needed during the study.

Numerical assessment of change in total number of days hospitalized because of epilepsy during the study.

Percent of participants with cessation of usual occupation, requirement of an informal caregiver, and who required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU).