[Social and economic aspects of administration of new antiepileptic drugs].

The necessity of analysis of the cost of treatment of patients with epilepsy becomes of primary importance in Poland as a consequence of recent economic transformations affecting the efficiency of health service. The reasons are: high number of patients with epilepsy (approaching 400,000 in a population of about 40 mln) and long time course of illness, taking into account steady, gradual rise of the cost of treatment, even if we accept greater efficiency of the new antiepileptic drugs. However, the analysis of questionnaires provided by patients with epilepsy indicates that optimation of their treatment with introduction of new antiepileptic drugs may be a procedure leading to diminution of the global expenses associated with care of epileptic patients. Identification of factors influencing cost of antiepileptic treatment before and after introduction of new antiepileptic drugs. A group of 150 people chosen at random from a population of persons taking new antiepileptic drugs (vigabatrin, lamotrygin, topiramate, gabapentin, tiagabine) received anonymous questionnaires concerning the time course of their illness. 80 questionnaires were returned. The questions concerned the situation before and after treatment. Statistical analysis included t test for dependent samples-including items such as: number of epileptic seizures and number and days of hospitalization, etc. per year of observation. Significant decrease of the number of epileptic seizures (p < 0.05), number of hospitalizations (p < 0.001), days of hospitalizations (p < 0.001) and neurological consultations (p < 0.001) occurred after optimalization of treatment. Results of our research illustrate significant reduction of direct costs of treatment associated with introduction of new antiepileptic drugs.