Antiepileptic and Antidepressive Polypharmacy in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Table 1

Patients’ characteristics.

Study population	Description
Number of patients ( = 1090)	AED/amitriptyline: 342 (31%; 249 females)
Gender distribution	Mean age 53 (±10) years
Age distribution	Patients 60 years and above (29%; = 100)
Range	21–73 years
EDSS score	MS Rehabilitation Centre population: mean 4.8 (±1.8, = 585); AED/amitriptyline: mean 4.8 (±1.7; = 196)
Polypharmacy	AED/amitriptyline: 5.4 (range 1–19) different prescription drugs; 203 (59%) used 5 or more drugs; 24 (7%) used 10 drugs or more
Comorbid disorders, epilepsy	MS Rehabilitation Centre population: = 20 (1.8%), diagnosis of epilepsy
Mood disorder	AED/amitriptyline: = 71 (21% used either -blocker, SNRI or SSRI)
Use of disease-modifying drugs	AED/amitriptyline: = 130 (38%); Natalizumab: = 40 (12%); Glatiramer acetate: = 37 (11%); Interferon-beta: = 36 (11%); Mitoxantrone: = 7 (2%); Fingolimod: = 6 (2%); Ocrelizumab: = 1 (0.3%)