Levetiracetam versus carbamazepine monotherapy for partial epilepsy in children less than 16 years of age.

Newer antiepileptic drugs are reported to have better side-effect profiles than traditional antiepileptics, although the evidence to this effect and their efficacy is limited. We compare the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam and carbamazepine monotherapy in children with partial epilepsy < or = 16 years of age. We identified 86 patients (66 levetiracetam, 20 carbamazepine) treated with initial monotherapy for partial epilepsy and followed for > or = 6 months. Efficacy was based on the number of patients achieving seizure freedom of > or = 6 months. Tolerability was based on parent-and patient-reported side effects. Forty-eight (73%) subjects on levetiracetam and 13 (65%) subjects on carbamazepine achieved 6 months of seizure freedom. A total of 70% of patients on carbamazepine and 45% of those on levetiracetam had at least 1 adverse event while on monotherapy (P = .07). Levetiracetam and carbamazepine monotherapy demonstrate similar efficacy for treatment of partial epilepsy and are well tolerated in children.