Abstracts

Rationale: Adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are discomfort experiences occurred during the use of AEDs and they are directly and indirectly associated with AEDs. Adverse events are also occurred during the use of AEDs, but they include discomforts not associated with AEDs too. There was evidence showed that the scores of Liverpool Adverse Event Profile (LAEP) are more affected by depression and anxiety than drug factors itself. However drug factors also may be crucial to produce adverse events. The aim of this study is to identify the pattern of adverse event profile reported by Korean version of LAEP (K-LAEP), and to investigate the relationships between the scores of K-LAEP and drug load and drug number. Methods: This study enrolled 453 consecutive PWE who took AEDs for at least 1 year. The age of enrolled PWE was 37.6 ± 13.3 (mean ± standard deviation) years old. 291 PWE (64.2%) was male. They reported adverse events via K-LAEP. We did factor analysis of K-LAEP. 19 items of K-LAEP were independent variables for the factor analysis to identify how many and which factors can explain all variables of K-LAEP. We consider variables as significant ones if their factor loading was higher than 0.5. The relationships of drug load with each score associated with K-LAEP (total K-LAEP score, and scores of each factor) were tested by using Pearson correlation coefficient. We also compared the scores among monotherapy, duotherapy and polytherapy by using Kruskal-Wallis test. Post-hoc comparisons of this comparison were conducted by using Mann-Whitney test. Results: Mean number of AED was 1.51 ± 0.72, mean of drug load was 1.17 ± 0.92. All variables of 19 items of K-LAEP were explained by 3 factors. The significant items of factor-1 were upset stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, headache, blurred vision and tiredness. We defined the factor-1 as nonspecific CNS factor. The significant items of factor-2 were acne and hair loss. Because of the association of the items with cutaneous system, we described the factor-2 as cutaneous factor. The significant items of factor-3 were feeling aggression, nervousness, restlessness, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentration, and depression. Therefore we interpreted the factor-3 as cognitive-affective factor. Total K-LAEP scores, and scores of nonspecific CNS factor and cognitive-affective factor were well correlated with drug load (p <0.01). The scores were also significantly different among monotherapy, duotherapy and polytherapy (p <0.01). In post hoc comparisons, the scores were significantly different between monotherapy and polytherapy (p <0.01). Conclusions: Adverse events reported by K-LAEP may be affected by 3 factors of nonspecific CNS, cutaneous and cognitive-affective factor. The scores of total K-LAEP, and scores of nonspecific CNS and cognitive-affective factor may reflect side effects of AEDs because they may be associated with drug load and number of AEDs.