Discontinuing anti-epileptic medication(s) in epileptic children: 18 versus 24 months

Abstract

For a period of slightly over 4 years, 80 children who had been seizure-free for at least 18 months while on anti-convulsant medication were prospectively collected. These 80 children were randomly assigned to either the 18-months seizure-free group (n = 41) or to the group where anti-convulsant medications were continued for another 6 months before they were gradually tapered off and stopped, i.e. the 24-months seizure-free group (n = 39). Twelve (29%) of the 41 children who had been seizure-free for 18 months and 14 (36%) of the 39 children who had been seizure-free for 24 months had seizure recurrence during the follow-up period. Log-rank test of the recurrence experience of the two groups of patients showed no statistically significant difference between the groups (p > 0.50). Similarly, when both groups were combined and other risk variables likely to influence the rate of seizure recurrence were tested, only EEG abnormality at discontinuation of anti-convulsant medication had a significant association with the risk of seizure recurrence (p < 0.001).