Absence seizures in children.

Background: About 10% of seizures in children with epilepsy are typical absence seizures. Absence seizures have a significant impact on quality of life.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for typical absence seizures in children? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to October 2007 (BMJ Clinical evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Results: We found 16 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

Conclusions: In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: clonazepam, ethosuximide, gabapentin, lamotrigine, and valproate.