OBJECTIVES

: Epilepsy is a particularly common neurological disorder in developing countries. Antiepileptic drugs play an important role in the control of this disease. The purpose of this analysis was to describe the use of antiepileptic drugs in children and adolescents from Ivory Coast.

METHODS

: We carried out a retrospective analysis of data on the use of antiepileptic drugs from the general mutual of civil servants and agents of the state of Ivory Coast. Drug use was estimated based on reimbursements for care in 2017 and 2018. The main parameters measured were: the number of prevalent users in 2017 and 2018, the number of incident users and the number of official packaging units of drugs equivalent to each international non-proprietary name. Expenditures were estimated for each drug based on prices in private pharmacies.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 1212 people aged 1 to 18 years with an average age of 10±4.82 years. 59.32% of the people were male. The number of prevalent users was 808 in 2017 and 790 in 2018. The number of incident users in 2018 was 404.

11033 "boxes" of antiepileptic drug were consumed during the study period (47, 39 % in 2017 and 52, 61% in 2018). Valproic acid (64.40% in 2017 and 65.31% in 2018) and carbamazepine (27.83% in 2017 and 27.39% in 2018) was the most widely used drugs. Vigabatrin (0.32% in 2017 and 0.31% in 2018) and Pregabalin (0.06% in 2017 and 0.33% in 2018) were the least used drugs. The annual average expenditure per person allocated to these treatments were higher using Vigabatrin (39360 CFA) and lower with Valpromide (1555.29 CFA).

CONCLUSIONS

The overall use of antiepileptic drugs was increasing in the study population. Latest generation antiepileptics were poorly used.