Abstract
Objectives: To assess the biochemical bone profile in epileptic patients treated with carbamazepine monotherapy which include serum total calcium, phosphorus levels and alkaline phosphatase activity, and to investigate the relationship between these parameters with the age of the patients, daily dose of the drug and the duration of treatment.
Design: Case-control study.
Setting: The study was carried out in the Outpatient department of Ibin-Seena Hospital in Mosul, during the period from October 2002 to March 2003.
Participants: Seventy six epileptic patients on carbamazepine therapy and 76 apparently healthy subjects as a control group.
Main outcomes measures: Serum total calcium, phosphorus levels and alkaline phosphatase activity in epileptic patients treated with carbamazepine were compared with their corresponding values in the control group by using "Z" test. The relationship between serum total calcium, phosphorus levels and alkaline phosphatase activity, with the age of the epileptic patients, daily dose or duration of treatment of carbamazepine, were also studied by using correlation coefficient.
Results: In epileptic patients treated with carbamazepine, serum total calcium was significantly lower (P
