Definition
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are used to treat epilepsy, i.e., the repeated occurrence of unprovoked epileptic seizures. They are also used in other conditions, e.g., bipolar disorder, neuropathic pain, or migraine. None of the available AEDs does cure epilepsy. Instead, they suppress epileptic discharges in the brain, thereby reducing seizure frequency. For this reason, they are sometimes called anticonvulsants or antiseizure drugs. Nevertheless, the official ATC code for these drugs as designated by the WHO is “N03A Antiepileptics.”
The prevalence of epilepsy is about 0.7% worldwide, with equal distribution between sexes. Thus, epilepsy is among the four most common neurologic disorders. The incidence vs. age curve is U-shaped, meaning that the incidence of epilepsy is highest at both extremes of age. At young age, epilepsy is mostly due to connatal brain disease, hypoxia at birth,...
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Reimers, A. (2021). Antiepileptic Drugs. In: Offermanns, S., Rosenthal, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Molecular Pharmacology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57401-7_150
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