Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in people with epilepsy

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Epilepsy has been associated with cardiovascular comorbidity. This study aimed to assess the potential association between cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs), antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and etiology. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A single-center retrospective epilepsy cohort from the decade of 2004-2013 was assessed. Poisson regression models with robust variance were estimated to obtain CRF prevalence ratios (PR) according to AED prescription and etiology. RESULTS: After excluding patients in the monotherapy group with vascular etiology or previous cardiovascular events, in the remaining 400 patients, enzyme-inducer AEDs (EIAEDs), especially phenytoin (PHT), were associated with higher prevalence of dyslipidemia (PRa 1.77, p < .05), compared to valproic acid. No etiology was associated with higher prevalence of any CRF. CONCLUSIONS: Patients treated with EIAEDs, especially PHT, had higher prevalence of dyslipidemia.