Research Article

Real-Life Effectiveness and Tolerability of Brivaracetam in Focal to Bilateral and Primary Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics and BRV initiation at baseline visit.


Male sex, (%)64 (52.0)
Age, years, (range) (15-92)
Age at onset, (range) (0-89)
Age at onset, (%)
 <5 years15 (12.2)
 5-11 years22 (17.9)
 12-20 years42 (34.1)
 21-45 years23 (18.7)
 46-59 years13 (10.6)
 ≥60 years8 (6.5)
Epilepsy duration, years, (range) (0-59)
Type of epilepsy, (%)
 Focal78 (63.4)
 Generalized45 (36.6)
Epilepsy syndrome and etiology, (%)
 Focal epilepsy78 (63.4)
 Unknown etiology28 (22.8)
 Structural etiology50 (40.7)
 Genetic generalized epilepsy45 (36.6)
 Other2 (1.6)
 Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy8 (6.5)
 GGE with GTCS32 (26.0)
 Juvenile absence epilepsy2 (1.6)
 Childhood absence epilepsy1 (0.8)
Drug-resistant epilepsy, (%)63 (51.2)
Tonic-clonic seizure types, (%)
 GTCS45 (36.6)
 FBTCS78 (63.4)
Number of FBGTS/GTCS in the 3 months prior to inclusion (median)1 (IQR: 0-3) (range: 0-30)
 Monthly FBTCS/GTCS frequency0.33 (IQR: 0-1) (range: 0-10)
Number of FBTCS/GTCS in the last year prior to inclusion (median)2 (IQR: 0-6) (range: 0-120)
 Monthly FBTCS/GTCS frequency0.17 (IQR: 0-0.5) (range: 0-10)
Other seizure types in the 3 months prior to inclusion, (%)70 (56.9)
 Focal seizures without impaired awareness9 (7.3)
 Focal seizures with impaired awareness37 (30.1)
 Myoclonic17 (13.8)
 Absences15 (12.2)
 Other8 (6.5)
Median seizure frequency per month in the 3 months prior to inclusion (all seizure types)1 (IQR: 0-4) (range: 0-64)
Median seizure frequency per month in 1 year prior to inclusion (all seizure types)0.5 (IQR: 0.1-2.7) (range: 0-42)
BRV dose (mg)75 (IQR:50-100) (range:25-300)
Titration phase, (%)44 (35.8)

BRV: brivaracetam; FBTCS: focal or bilateral tonic-clonic seizures; GGE: genetic generalized epilepsy; GTCS: generalized tonic-clonic seizures; SD: standard deviation.