Psychiatry Investig.  2012 Jun;9(2):174-179.

Rash in Psychiatric and Nonpsychiatric Adolescent Patients Receiving Lamotrigine in Korea: A Retrospective Cohort Study

• Tak HJ
• Ahn JH
• Kim KW
• Kim YN
• Choi SW
• Lee KY
• Park EJ
• Bhang SY

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Lamotrigine is a widely used medication for psychiatric disorders and epilepsy, but the adverse effects of this drug in adolescent Korean patients have not yet been investigated. In the present study, we sought to compare the incidence and impact of lamotrigine-induced skin rashes and different pattern of adverse events in psychiatric and nonpsychiatric adolescent patients.
METHODS
Using a retrospective cohort design, all of the charts were reviewed for adolescents (13 to 20 years old), treated with lamotrigine during the previous 2 years in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic and Pediatric Neurologic Clinic of the Ulsan University Hospital in South Korea.
RESULTS
Of the 102 subjects, 23 patients developed a skin rash. All of these rashes were observed within 7 weeks of the initiation of the lamotrigine therapy. Only one subject developed a serious rash, which was diagnosed as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Although the psychiatric subjects were administered statistically lower doses of lamotrigine during weeks 1 through 5 and at week 12, the likelihood of developing a rash was not significantly different between the psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients.
CONCLUSION
Careful dose escalation and close observation of side effects for the first 7 weeks of treatment is important. The present study reveals the tolerability of lamotrigine in an adolescent population, although a double-blind, controlled trial is needed to confirm these findings.

Keyword

Lamotrigine; Safety; Tolerability; Rash; Adolescent

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Child
Cohort Studies
Epilepsy
Exanthema
Humans
Incidence
Retrospective Studies
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
Triazines
Triazines