ArticleTranslational pediatrics2021
Efficacy and tolerability of lamotrigine in the treatment of focal epilepsy among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.
Article in Translational pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lamotrigine add-on therapy for drug-resistant focal epilepsy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Review
- Development,Drug delivery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEpilepsy is the most common chronic neurological disease in children, and focal epileptic seizures are the most common subtype. Unlike the data supporting treatment options for adults with epilepsy, evidence regarding the most effective first-line drug therapy for focal epilepsy in children and adolescents is limited. While lamotrigine is a therapeutic option for adults, there are disagreements surrounding its efficacy and tolerability in the younger population. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to determine if there was sufficient evidence to support a more definitive recommendation.
methodsWe undertook electronic search strategies using Medline via Ovid SP, Embase via Ovid SP up to February 05, 2021. We also searched relevant articles through Chinese BioMedical Literature (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WANFANG, and VIP databases up to February 05, 2021. Study selection and data extraction were performed by 2 authors independently. The randomized controlled trials on focal epilepsy in children were included, and we made risk of bias judgments based on the methods endorsed by The Cochrane Collaboration. We used fifty percent or greater reduction in seizure frequency as an indicator of efficacy, the incidence of adverse events and treatment withdrawal as indicators of tolerability. The strength of the correlation was assessed via risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).
resultsA total of 7 randomized trials involving 757 participants fulfilled the eligibility criteria. Of the 7 trials, 3 were placebo-controlled, and 4 compared lamotrigine with carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine. Lamotrigine was significantly more effective than placebo in achieving ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency, but its efficacy was not significantly different from that of carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine (lamotrigine
conclusionsLamotrigine was effective in reducing the seizure frequency when used as an add-on treatment in children with focal epilepsy, but current evidence does not suggest that lamotrigine is superior to carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine as monotherapy. For overall adverse events, lamotrigine has significantly fewer than carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine, suggesting that lamotrigine has better tolerability.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.