Determine the clinical characteristics associated with retention at 12 months in patients with focal (partial-onset) seizures treated with eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL), in real-world setting (Euro-Esli study).

Recognition of clinical characteristics associated with retention may help physicians to take informed decisions on the AED treatment.

Kaplan–Meier survival method was used to evaluate retention rate at 12 months. Univariate logistic regression unadjusted and adjusted for age and epilepsy duration was used to estimate the association between ESL retention at 12 months and baseline (prior to ESL initiation) predictor variables.

Among 1559 patients, mean (standard deviation, SD) age was 43.9 (15.7) years, and 51% were male. At 12 months, retention rate was 73.4%. Overall, 415/1559 discontinued ESL during the first 12 months of treatment. Patients in the ESL retention group had higher age at epilepsy onset (p<0.001), shorter mean duration of epilepsy (p<0.001) and lower number of monthly seizure frequency at baseline (p<0.001), than patients who have withdrawn from ESL. In univariate logistic regression model, <2 previous AEDs (OR=2.57; p<0.001), absence of seizures at baseline (OR=1.87; p=0.014), <5 seizures/month (OR=1.73; p<0.001), age of epilepsy onset (OR=1.02; p<0.001), epilepsy duration (OR=0.98, p<0.001) and the number of concomitant AEDs at baseline (OR=0.81; p<0.001) were associated with higher ESL retention at 12 months. In regression model adjusted for age and epilepsy duration, the association of age of epilepsy onset with retention at 12 months was modified (OR=1.01; p=0.724), while the association of <2 previous AEDs, absence of seizures at baseline, <5 seizures/month, epilepsy duration, number of concomitant AEDs at baseline remained statistically significant.

In this post hoc analysis, shorter epilepsy duration, absence of seizures at baseline, <5 seizures/months, <2 previous AEDs, and lower number of concomitant AEDs were found to be associated with increased odds of ESL retention at 12 months.