Antiepileptic medicines in men and women with stroke in Sweden, a registry‐based study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: To describe the utilization of the first antiepileptic drug (AED) in men and women with previous stroke in a nationwide population. METHODS: Prescription data, patient's age, and sex were collected from the Swedish Drug Register and cross‐linked to diagnosis data from the National Patient Register and data from Statistics Sweden. Patients with a first dispensation of an AED after stroke between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2014 were included. RESULTS: A total of 10 958 patients with stroke were initiated on AED treatment (51% women, mean age 75 years). Gabapentin (n = 3073, 28%), pregabalin (n = 2476, 22%), carbamazepine (n = 2330, 21%), levetiracetam (n = 1158, 10%), and valproic acid (n = 833, 7%) were the most dispensed AEDs. After stratification by the presence of a neuropathic pain diagnosis, gabapentin, and pregabalin were the most used AEDs. In contrast, after stratification for epilepsy/convulsions diagnosis, carbamazepine and levetiracetam were the most initiated AEDs. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that AED is mainly used for neuropathic/poststroke pain and the study shows gabapentin and pregabalin to be the most used AEDs. For epilepsy, carbamazepine and levetiracetam were the most used AEDs in patients with previous stroke.