COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VALPROATE AND CARBAMAZEPINE AMONG ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH NEWLY DIAGNOSED EPILEPSY

Background and objective: The increased incidence of new-onset epilepsy in the elderly has been recognized for some time. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to compare the analysis of valproate and carbamazepine among elderly patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Material and methods: This comparative study was conducted in Rawalpindi Medical College during 2019 to 2020. Briefly, patients aged ≥ 16 years who had experienced two or more unprovoked seizures in the previous 2 years with at least one during the previous 6 months were included. At screening, the investigator decided whether LEV or CBZ would be the standard first-line treatment. Results: The data was collected from 100 patients. Within the VPA stratum 36/100 patients (36.0 %) had generalized seizures only, and within the CBZ stratum 87 patients (90.3 %) had focal seizures only. The majority of patients had epilepsy either due to an unknown cause or cerebrovascular accident. Conclusion: It is concluded that patients remained in the LEV treatment arm longer than those in the CBZ arm, most likely because of the better tolerability of LEV