EDA DERLE, İLKİN İYİGÜNDOĞDU, SEDA KİBAROĞLU, RUHSEN ÖCAL, CEYDA ÇELİKKOL, SİBEL ÜLKÜ BENLİ
Acta Medica Anatolia - 2016;4(4):148-152
Introduction: We aimed to evaluate the types of seziures, etiological factors, effectiveness and adverse effects of antiepileptic treatment in the elderly. Method: We evaluated the medical data of the 138 patients, who had their first seizure above the age of 65, and admitted to our clinic between years 2011-2013. We determined the type of seizure, etiological factors, seizure recurrence, antiepileptic treatment, adverse effects of the treatment and the rate of patients who were seizure free at the last visit. Results: In the 138 patients, whose mean age was 75.6 ± 7.2 years at the time of first seizure, we found the most common seizure type was generalized seizure and the most common etiologic factor was cerebrovascular diseases. Levetirasetam was the most used antiepileptic drug, and for the overall group, the rate of adverse effect of the antiepileptic drugs were 20.3%. At the last visit, 89.9% of the patients were seizure free with a mean time of 17.8±22.7 months. Conclusion: In conclusion, symptomatic seizures were common in elderly with better response to antiepileptic drugs and usually monotheraphy was sufficient for maintenance of the seizure free period. The side effects and drug interactions must be taken into account while choosing the antiepileptic treatment, since the comorbid diseases and multiple drug usage is common in elderly.
