Background: New antiepileptics seem to be better tolerated by patients. The retention rate of an antiepileptic would be a useful indicator of its practical usefulness.
Aims: To assess the long-term outcome of oxcarbazepine (OXC) in a naturalistic setting by determining the retention rate.
Methods: This is a retrospective study. All epilepsy patients treated with OXC at a tertiary care epilepsy center during a period of 3.5 years were included in this study. Retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated for each cohort group using Kaplan-Meier estimates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals.
Results: A total of 98 patients were studied. OXC was used as monotherapy in 14 (14.3%) and as add-on therapy in 84 (85.7%). The mean daily dose was 947 +/- 492 mg and 60% received < or = 900 mg/day. Using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the retention rates of OXC at 1 and 3 years were estimated to be 0.853 (0.749-0.956) and 0.737 (0.570-0.904), respectively.
Conclusions: OXC is well tolerated by patients as both monotherapy and add-on therapy.