Clobazam and clonazepam use in epilepsy: Results from a UK database incident user cohort study

AbstractObjectiveTo compare patient characteristics and treatment patterns among clobazam (CLB) and clonazepam (CZP)-treated patients with epilepsy in a longitudinal primary care database.MethodsIn this pharmacoepidemiological study, real-life usage data from the Clinical Practice Research Database (CPRD) were evaluated. The CPRD collects data from approximately 690 primary care practices throughout the UK. Data included were from patients with ≥1 incident CLB or CZP prescription from 1995 to 2011 and were present in the database for ≥182 days prior to the index date (date patient was first prescribed CLB or CZP within the study period).ResultsOf 21,099 patients who met inclusion criteria, 18.4% were receiving CLB and 81.6% were receiving CZP. More patients used CLB for epilepsy than CZP (76.1% vs 8.7%). CLB-treated adults (≤18years) were younger than those treated with CZP (41.0 vs 48.2 years; p<0.001), while CLB-treated children (≤18 years) were older than those treated with CZP (8.8 vs 7.3 years, p