Background:

epilepsy is one of the most frequent neurological diseases and almost 30 % of patients who suffer from it do not get control with classic antiepileptic drugs.

Objective:

to characterize prescription patterns of new antiepileptic drugs.

Methods:

a descriptive and cross-section study about use of medicines, of prescription-indication type with elements of therapeutic scheme was conducted. The study universe was composed of 300 patients and all of them were included on the research. The following variables were studied: group of age, associations, indications and interval of administration.

Results:

use of vigabatrin and lamotrigine prevailed in children and patients with diagnosis of epilepsy. Use of Gabapentin was more frequent in adults and neuropathic pain. Vigabatrin and lamotrigine were mainly used in associations with classical antiepileptic drugs, being valproate the drug more used on it. Gabapentin was only used alone. There were mistakes on intervals of administration of all studied drugs.

Conclusion:

prescription of new antiepileptic drugs was adequate in most cases. Identified mistakes were related to intervals of administration.

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