Abstract
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. Patients with epilepsy generally require long-term antiepileptic therapy and many of them receive polypharmacy. Certain medications, including older-generation antiepileptic drugs, have been known to predispose patients to developing diabetes. Although data mining techniques have become widely used in healthcare, they have seldom been applied in this clinical problem. Here, the authors used association rule mining to discover drugs or drug combinations that may be associated with newly diagnosed diabetes. Their findings indicate in addition to the most common culprits such as phenytoin and valproic acid, prescriptions containing carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, or lamotrigine may be related to the development of newly diagnosed diabetes. These mined rules are useful as guidance to both clinical practice and future research.
Highlights
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by paroxysmal recurrence of epileptic seizures (Moshé, Perucca, Ryvlin, & Tomson, 2015)
Their findings indicate in addition to the most common culprits such as phenytoin and valproic acid, prescriptions containing carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, or lamotrigine may be related to the development of newly diagnosed diabetes
Following a previous study (Hung et al, 2017), patients who had not taken at least 28 cumulative defined daily dose (DDD) of at least one antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were further excluded from the study (Figure 1) because this study focused on patients with epilepsy who were receiving antileptic treatment
Summary
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by paroxysmal recurrence of epileptic seizures (Moshé, Perucca, Ryvlin, & Tomson, 2015). Long-term use of one or more antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) to provide optimal seizure control has been the mainstay of treatment for epilepsy (Burakgazi & French, 2016). A survey found that the mean number of AEDs consumed per each patient with epilepsy was 1.7±0.8 (range 1–4) (Eyal, Rasaby, & Ekstein, 2014). The burden of comorbidities is higher in patients with epilepsy than that in the general population (Keezer, Sisodiya, & Sander, 2016). About 56% of patients with epilepsy were concomitantly treated with at least one other prescription (Eyal et al, 2014). Prescribers should carefully consider the long-term adverse effects of AEDs—especially of those older-generation AEDs with hepatic enzyme-inducing activities and high potentials for drug-drug interactions (Brodie et al, 2013)
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