Gender differences in seizure recurrence and antiepileptic drug polytherapy predicting health-related quality of life of persons 1 year after diagnosis of epilepsy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether gender influences the prediction of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in persons with newly diagnosed epilepsy (NDE).

Methods: This was a 1-year longitudinal study. Persons with NDE were assessed with the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31), the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), the Stigma Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale.

Factors contributing to anxiety and depressive symptoms in adults with new-onset epilepsy.

Purpose: We investigated factors contributing to anxiety and depressive symptoms over a 1-year period in Korean adults with new-onset epilepsy.

Methods: This longitudinal multicenter study included adults diagnosed with epilepsy within 12 months of a first seizure. Using stepwise regression analyses, we determined whether Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) scores could be predicted by demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables at baseline and at 12 months.

Unblinded, randomized multicenter trial comparing lamotrigine and valproate combination with controlled-release carbamazepine monotherapy as initial drug regimen in untreated epilepsy.

Purpose: To compare controlled-release carbamazepine monotherapy (CBZ-CR) with lamotrigine and valproate combination therapy (LTG + VPA) in equivalent total drug load, as initial drug regimen in untreated patients with partial and/or generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS).

Methods: This unblinded, randomized, 60-week superiority trial recruited patients having two or more unprovoked seizures with at least one seizure during previous three months. After randomization into CBZ-CR or LTG + VPA, patients entered into eight-week titration phase (TP), followed by 52-week maintenance phase (MP).

Predictors of disclosure management behavior at the end of 1-year follow-up in Korean adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Purpose: Epilepsy is a concealable stigmatizing condition. We investigated the factors predicting disclosure management behavior in Korean adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Methods: This longitudinal multicenter study included Korean adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Factors contributing to the development of perceived stigma in people with newly diagnosed epilepsy: A one-year longitudinal study.

Purpose: We evaluated the course of perceived stigma and the factors associated with perceived stigma over the first year in newly diagnosed people with epilepsy (PWE).

Methods: We recruited newly diagnosed PWE from 12 tertiary hospitals in Korea. The perceived stigma of epilepsy was assessed using the Stigma Scale at baseline and one year later.

Clinical feasibility of immediate overnight switching from slow-release carbamazepine to oxcarbazepine in Korean patients with refractory partial epilepsy.

We assessed the clinical variables predicting the feasibility of immediate overnight switching from slow-release carbamazepine to oxcarbazepine in Korean patients with refractory partial epilepsy. Thirty patients aged 15 years or older with refractory partial epilepsy, who had been treated with slow-release carbamazepine as monotherapy or in combination therapy, were switched overnight from slow-release carbamazepine (mean dose at switching, 900 mg/day) to oxcarbazepine. Of these 30 patients, 29 (96.