Levetiracetam, a commonly prescribed drug is preferred to phenobarbital for more effective treatment of infants with nonsyndromic epilepsy, explores a new study.

‘Scientists have found levetiracetam to be superior to phenobarbital as an initial treatment for infants with epilepsy.’

The observational study, which used robust comparative effectiveness methods, included 155 infants with nonsyndromic epilepsy treated at one of 17 medical centers in the U.S. participating in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium. The infants in the study had their first non-fever-related seizure between one month and one year of age, and they started treatment with either phenobarbital or levetiracetam following initial diagnosis. All participants had six-month follow-up. 




"We launched the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium in 2012 to emulate the success of a cooperative group like Children's Oncology Group in studying and standardizing the care for relatively rare children's cancers. Epilepsy in babies is also rare, which is why we need to work collaboratively with epilepsy centers across the country to conduct research and improve care for these children," said Berg, who is also a Research Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Previously, the Consortium has shown that most infants with epilepsy receive either phenobarbital or levetiracetam despite many other available medications. Given that these two medications are already used as the main choices for this population, we were able to conduct our comparative effectiveness study to determine which one is superior. Results from this Consortium study will have great impact on patient care."
Source-Eurekalert