Go to ScienceDirect® Home Skip Main Navigation Links
 Register or Login:   Password:     Athens Login 
HomeBrowse JournalsBrowse Abstract DatabasesBrowse BooksBrowse Reference WorksMy ProfileAlerts Help (Opens new window)
Journal of Emergency Medicine
Volume 22, Issue 3 , April 2002, Pages 235-239

This Document
Abstract
Full Text + Links
PDF (57 K)

Actions
E-mail Article

doi:10.1016/S0736-4679(01)00474-7    How to cite or link using doi (opens new window) Cite or link using doi  
Copyright © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Original contribution

Bupropion seizure proportion among new-onset generalized seizures and drug related seizures presenting to an emergency department

Presented at the 2001 ACEP Research Forum, Chicago, Illinois.

Gene R. Pesola MD, MPH*, Corresponding Author Contact Information and Jagannadha Avasarala MD, PhDdagger

* Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Vincent's Hospital, New York, and New York Medical College, New York, New York, USA
dagger Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's Hospital, New York, and New York Medical College, New York, New York, USA

Received 28 March 2001;  revised 22 August 2001;  accepted 5 September 2001. ; Available online 27 March 2002.


Abstract

Bupropion is a relatively new and popular medication with seizures as its major side effect. This drug can produce seizures with an overdose. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relative importance of this medication as the etiology of new-onset seizures relative to other drugs and new-onset seizures in general. The study design was a retrospective case series. All new onset generalized seizures were evaluated over a 4-year period in subjects 16 years of age and older. Etiologic diagnosis was determined from the neurology consultation and all patients with new-onset seizures were admitted to the hospital as per hospital policy and received a routine chemistry screening and a neuroimaging study as a minimum. The results indicate that 17 of 279 or 6.1% of the new-onset seizures were drug related. After cocaine intoxication (6/279 or 2.2%) and benzodiazepine withdrawal (5/279 or 1.8%) seizures, bupropion (4/279 or 1.4%) was the third leading cause of drug related seizures. In addition, all the bupropion related seizures occurred in patients taking what was considered to be a therapeutic dose or 450 mg/day or less. Sleep deprivation, previous history of attention deficit disorder and bulimia, and previous heavy alcohol use were associated in three of the patients taking bupropion who had seizures. We conclude that although drug related new-onset seizures are not a common cause of seizures overall, bupropion might be a more common cause of drug related new-onset generalized seizures presenting to the Emergency Department than previously thought, occurring in more than one-fifth of this subgroup of cases. Possibly, greater exclusion criteria are needed than currently recommended for the use of buproprion at therapeutic doses.

Author Keywords: bupropion; generalized seizures; drug related seizures; therapeutic dose-related seizures; seizures


Corresponding Author Contact Information Corresponding author. Reprint Address: Gene R. Pesola, MD, Department of Medicine, Harlem Hospital Center, 506 Lenox Ave, MLK 14101, , New York, NY 10037, , USA



This Document
Abstract
Full Text + Links
PDF (57 K)

Actions
E-mail Article
Journal of Emergency Medicine
Volume 22, Issue 3 , April 2002, Pages 235-239


 
HomeBrowse JournalsBrowse Abstract DatabasesBrowse BooksBrowse Reference WorksMy ProfileAlerts Help (Opens new window)

Send feedback to ScienceDirect
Software and compilation © 2004 ScienceDirect. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.


Your use of this service is governed by Terms and Conditions. Please review our Privacy Policy for details on how we protect information that you supply.