BMJ 2007;334:1243 (16 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39245.699537.DB
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Researchers warn of possible risks to children from new epilepsy drugs
Lynn Eaton
London
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
New drugs for epilepsy are increasingly being given to children despite the lack of evidence for their long term safety, warn researchers at a leading UK centre for paediatric pharmacy.
Ian Wong and colleagues at the University of London's Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy reviewed the data on epilepsy drugs prescribed to under-18s between 1993 and 2005 (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2007;63:689-97). The study looked at 7721 patients aged 18 years or under whose details were included in the UK general practice research database, of whom 70% were treated with one antiepilepsy drug each.
Overall prescribing of newer antiepileptic drugs had increased by 19% over that period, whereas prescribing of conventional drugs had declined by 17%. Lamotrigine was the most prescribed drug, accounting for 65% of the prescriptions of newer antiepileptics.
The study comes after a report last September by the European Medicines Agency calling for a review of
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