Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in people with epilepsy

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.