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The effect of gabapentin on cognition and quality of life (QoL) in patients with epilepsy was investigated using a controlled pre- and post-treatment design. Thirty patients with chronic epilepsy were administered a battery of cognitive tests and QoL measures at baseline (pre-treatment) and again following 1-2 months of treatment (post-treatment). All patients were receiving anticonvulsant medication at baseline. Following baseline assessment, 15 patients were started on gabapentin as add-on therapy (gabapentin group), and 15 patients remained on stable medication (control group). No between-group treatment effects were demonstrated on any of the mood measures. A significant between-group treatment effect was demonstrated on one cognitive measure, in favour of the gabapentin group. Results do not suggest any adverse short-term effects of gabapentin on cognition or QoL in patients with chronic epilepsy.

Background – Systematic reviews have evaluated a wide variety of programmes aiming to prevent, reduce or delay substance use in adolescents. This paper presents an overview of recent systematic reviews, summarising the evidence on the effectiveness of prevention strategies which target adolescents misusing alcohol and/or drugs. Methods – We performed a comprehensive search in major electronic databases, consulted websites and checked reference lists of relevant articles. Studies that met our inclusion criteria were critically appraised using the AMSTAR instrument. The findings from the included systematic reviews were synthesised using a vote counting procedure. Results – Twenty-one systematic reviews were identified. Ten of these were rated as of high quality. There was little overlap between reviews in terms of the target group, intervention, setting and outcome measures. The components or mechanisms of the prevention programmes were poorly described. Ten reviews evaluated school-based prevention. The effects of these prevention programmes are promising, while effects of community-based, family-based and multi-faceted programmes were less convincing. Conclusion – Based on the current evidence, there is a small but consistent positive effect of school-based prevention programmes, but it is less clear what the “active ingredient” is. For example, which group should one target, in which setting and in which circumstances? A set of standardised process and outcome measures would allow us to better compare and statistically pool the results of original studies and reviews. This overview of reviews, like similar other overviews, should encourage researchers to increase uniformity and consistency between studies. This would improve the comparability of evidence, which is needed to formulate valid recommendations for practice.

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