Second generation antipsychotics are widely used by thousands of pregnant women worldwide in order to control their psychiatric disorders. The clinical profiles of these drugs have improved, specifically the decreased risk of hyperprolactinemia, which has increased fertility in female patients. However, the reproductive safety of second generation antipsychotics remains undefined and controvers...

The goal of antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy is to achieve a seizure-free state and eliminate the medical and psychosocial risks of recurrent seizures. Burden of epilepsy on the economy of a country may be largely due to the expenditure on AEDs. The adverse effects may influence the compliance to AEDs and effective control of epilepsy. We determined the pattern of AED use, the degree of epilept...

Purpose. Adjunctive zonisamide therapy was demonstrated to be beneficial for multiple-disabled patients with refractory childhood-onset epilepsy. Zonisamide is well tolerated, but urolithiasis and calcium sludge in the bladder were sometimes described in patients treated with antiepileptic drug polytherapy including zonisamide. In previous studies, alkaline urine and crystalluria were shown to ...

Cytochrome P450-dependent desaturation of the anticonvulsant drug valproic acid (VPA) results in formation of the hepatotoxin, 4-ene-VPA. Polytherapy with other anticonvulsants which are known P450 inducers increases the flux through this bioactivation pathway. The aim of the present study was to identify specific, inducible forms of human liver P450 which catalyze terminal desaturation of VPA....

Background. Hypertension management is of a paramount importance in diabetic patients for cardiovascular risk reduction. Aim. To evaluate prescribing pattern of antihypertensive in T2DM (type 2 diabetes) patients and compare with existing recent guidelines. Methods. A cross-sectional study involving evaluation of all T2DM patients referred to endocrinology unit at tertiary care centre for hyper...

PURPOSE Impact of adverse effects of antiepileptic medications (AEDs) such as cognitive side effects (CSEs) on quality of life can be significant. Here we provide an extended follow-up to our earlier study to investigate the predictors of cognitive side effects (CSEs) and relative frequency of CSEs among all commonly used AEDs. METHODS In this retrospective study, medical records of 2860 adul...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Antiepileptic drugs are associated with bone loss and fractures. Data in children is scarce and the impact of new therapies and of low vitamin D is not clear. This study assessed predictors of bone mineral density (BMD) in 225 ambulatory patients with epilepsy. METHODS BMD and detailed clinical information were obtained from 137 adults mean age of 31 years, on therapy for a...

Background. Monotherapy is the choice regimen to treat newly diagnosed epilepsies. However, if it fails, several strategies may be followed. Aim. To discuss the treatment options when an initial monotherapy regimen fails. Methods. We reviewed the relevant literature on the topic by using PubMed. Review and Discussion. Approximately 64% of people with epilepsy (PWE) de novo are free of seizures ...

OBJECTIVE To identify, characterize, and quantify associations of various factors with quality of life (QoL) in patients with asthma, according to the pharmacotherapy employed. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study involving 49 patients (≥ 18 years of age) with severe uncontrolled or refractory asthma treated at a specialized outpatient clinic of the Brazilian Unified Health Care System, r...