Brivaracetam: a Prospective and Multicentre Post-marketing Observational Study

Brivaracetam (BRV) is a new antiepileptic drug approved in March 2016 by Health Canada for the adjunctive treatment of focal epilepsy in adults. While randomized controlled trials represent the gold standard in measuring intervention efficacy, the generalizability of these findings to usual clinical practice remains uncertain. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of BRV as an adjunctive treatment in epilepsy. The secondary objective of this study is to evaluate the tolerability of BRV as an adjunctive treatment in epilepsy. This is a prospective and multicentre post-marketing observational study. All consecutive adult patients (i.e. aged at least 18 years) in whom BRV is introduced in participating medical centres, ambulatory or hospitalized, will be approached to participate in the study. The investigators will exclude individuals with generalized epilepsy as those aged less than 18 years, in order to respect current Health Canada indications. The investigators will exclude individuals cognitively or physically unable to complete the study questionnaires. The investigators will collect data from participants during three clinical visits with their regular treating physician. These will be the baseline visit, the 3-month visit (three months following the initiation of BRV), and the 6-month visit. At each visit, the investigators will collect data on seizure type(s) and frequency. Study participants will also complete four questionnaires to measure irritability, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. There will be two primary study outcomes. These are: a) mean percent change in monthly seizure frequency; and b) proportion with at least a 50% decrease in seizure frequency. There will be several secondary study endpoints: a) mean change in irritability \[measured using the Brief Irritability Test (BITe)\]; b) mean change in generalised anxiety \[measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder - 7 (GAD-7) scale\]; c) mean change in