Clinical and Economic Burden of Uncontrolled Epilepsy: Analyses From a Medicaid Database and a Private Health Plan Database

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

12386 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2010-05-31

Study Completion Date

2011-01-31

Brief Summary

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Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are the main therapeutic option for patients with epilepsy; however, complete seizure control remains elusive for many patients. Uncontrolled or refractory epilepsy is associated with a higher risk of mortality, physical injuries, and depression or anxiety compared with patients with controlled epilepsy. Higher resource utilization for patients with poor control is likely to be associated with higher economic costs. While diagnostic criteria for uncontrolled epilepsy are debated by neurologists, recent studies suggest that a diagnosis of uncontrolled epilepsy requires 1.) at least one seizure per month and 2.) a history of drug failures.

The objective of this study is to identify patients with uncontrolled epilepsy in both a Medicaid database and a private health plan database, to describe patient characteristics and AED treatment patterns between cohorts of patients with uncontrolled versus well-controlled epilepsy, and to evaluate the economic burden of uncontrolled versus well-controlled epilepsy.

For this evaluation, the data sources are medical and pharmacy claims in Medicaid databases from Florida (Third quarter 1997 to second quarter 2008), Iowa (First quarter 1998 to second quarter 2006), Kansas (First quarter 2001 to second quarter 2009), Missouri (First quarter 1997 to second quarter 2008) and New Jersey (First quarter 1997 to fourth quarter 2008) and medical and pharmacy claims in an private health plan database.

The study design is a retrospective, longitudinal, matched-cohort study. Eligible patient records will be assigned to one of three mutually-exclusive cohorts: uncontrolled epilepsy (at least 2 consecutive changes in AED therapy in at least 30 days, and at least 1 epilepsy-related inpatient or emergency department (ED) visit within 365 days), well-controlled epilepsy (no AED changes and no epilepsy-related inpatient or ED visits), and intermediate epilepsy (not classified as uncontrolled or well-controlled).

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Epilepsy

Keywords

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epilepsy anti-epileptic drug polytherapy adherence Medicaid

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

COHORT

Study Time Perspective

RETROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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Medicaid patients with uncontrolled epilepsy

Database records for patients with 2 or more consecutive changes in anti-epileptic drug (AED) therapy occurring at least 30 days apart and followed by 1 or more epilepsy-related inpatient or emergency department (ED) visits within the 365 days