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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Statistics show up to 50 percent of people with epilepsy fail to take their anti-seizure medications according to doctors orders.
Thats a big mistake, report researchers who reviewed death rates among people who did and did not take their medications on a regular basis. Overall, people who took their meds less than 80 percent of the time over a three-month period were three times more likely to die.
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There are many reasons epileptic patients fail to take their seizure medications, including cost, side effects and pregnancy, study author Edward Faught, M.D., director of the University of Alabama Epilepsy Center in Birmingham, was quoted as saying.
But this study suggests that none of those reasons overshadow the threat of death or other problems related to uncontrolled seizures. Patients need to stay on their medications and physicians need to recognize and treat issues related to people failing to take epilepsy drugs.
People in the study who didnt take their meds as prescribed had increased risk of death from car accidents and bone fractures, although no increased risk was seen for head injuries. Those who ditched their medications were also significantly more likely to require a hospitalization or go to the emergency room.
The study involved a review of insurance records from three state Medicaid programs and involved more than 33,600 people who had filled prescriptions for epilepsy drugs.
SOURCE: Neurology, published online June 18, 2008
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