Pretreatment behavior and subsequent medication effects in childhood absence epilepsy

Conclusions:
Pretreatment and ongoing behavioral problems exist in CAE. Valproic acid is associated with worse behavioral outcomes than ethosuximide or lamotrigine, further reinforcing ethosuximide as the preferred initial therapy for CAE.

Clinicaltrials.gov identifier:
NCT00088452.

Classification of evidence:
This study provides Class II evidence that for children with CAE, valproic acid is associated with worse behavioral outcomes than ethosuximide or lamotrigine.

Source: Neurology - October 16, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Shinnar, R. C., Shinnar, S., Cnaan, A., Clark, P., Dlugos, D., Hirtz, D. G., Hu, F., Liu, C., Masur, D., Weiss, E. F., Glauser, T. A., For the Childhood Absence Epilepsy Study Group Tags: Clinical trials Randomized controlled (CONSORT agreement), Attention, All Pediatric, Antiepileptic drugs, Absence seizures ARTICLE Source Type: research