Some Antiepileptic Drugs During Pregnancy Can Have A Negative Impact On The Development Of The CNS Of The Teens.
Teens born to women who took two or more epilepsy drugs while club fared worse in nursery school than peers with no prenatal communication to those medications, a philanthropic Swedish survey has found. Also, teens born to epileptic mothers in normal tended to record debase in several subjects, including math and English get more info. The findings stick earlier research that linked prenatal unveiling to epilepsy drugs, particularly valproic acid (brand names embrace Depakene and Depakote), to negative effects on a child's cleverness to process information, solve problems and make decisions.

And "Our results suggest that baring to several anti-epileptic drugs in utero may have a unenthusiastic effect on a child's neurodevelopment," said study author Dr Lisa Forsberg of Karolinska University Hospital. The bookwork was published online Nov 4, 2010 in Epilepsia.

The workroom was retrospective, gist that it looked backwards in time. Using nationalist medical records and a study conducted by a native hospital, Forsberg and her team identified women with epilepsy who gave origination between 1973 and 1986, as well as those who used anti-epileptic drugs during pregnancy. The gang then obtained records of children's school conduct from a registry that provides grades for all students leaving school at 16, the seniority that mandatory education ends in Sweden.

The researchers identified 1,235 children born to epileptic mothers. Of those, 641 children were exposed to one anti-epileptic analgesic and 429 to two or more; 165 children had no known aspect to the medications. The researchers then compared those children's prepare scene to that of all other children born in Sweden (more than 1,3 million) during that 13-year period.

The teens exposed to more than one anti-epileptic soporific in the womb were less favourite to get a definitive grade than those in the general population, said Forsberg. Not receiving a unalterable grade generally means not attending ill-defined school because of mental deficits, she explained.

While teens exposed to only one anti-seizure medication did not show the same risk, they were less probably to pass with excellence. This may be the end of the influence of the anti-epileptic drug during fetal life, but it may also be the make happen of factors related to epilepsy, such as genetic factors, social factors and the punch of the mother's seizures, said Forsberg. "Therefore, these observations should be interpreted with caution".

Anti-epileptic medications besides valproic acid cover phenytoin (such as Dilantin and Phenytek) and carbamazepine (such as Tegretol and Carbatrol). The learn noted that compared to other anti-epileptic drugs, valproic acid during pregnancy seems to have a stronger antipathetic impact on cognitive skills. However, Forsberg said that this weigh could not draw specific conclusions about valproic acid, since very few of the children contrived were exposed to it.

There's also evidence that taking multiple anti-epileptic drugs can cause more wrongdoing than taking just one. That's why the American Academy of Neurology recommends taking just one during pregnancy, if possible, and taxing medications other than valproic acid.

Dr Jacqueline A French, professor of neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center and foreman of the Clinical Trials Consortium at the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, said that the retrospective kind of the mug up made it obscure to control for unknowns that could have faked its findings. For example, the study could not factor in how often the mothers had seizures during their pregnancies or during ticklish early years of the child's life.

So "I cogitate that could have an impact on the child's development," said French. "We can't preclude the poibility that a woman on anti-epileptic drugs whose seizures are well controlled has just as much good chance of having a child that excels as a skirt who is not on the drugs".

Forsberg agreed, noting that most children exposed to anti-epileptic drugs do absolute school, and that most children of epileptic mothers are born and persist healthy. However, the study findings sustenance current recommendations that pregnant women take just one anti-epileptic panacea if possible, noted Forsberg. She also recommended that women with epilepsy envision their pregnancies reviews. "That way, they and their doctors can come up with distinctive treatment plans that make the pregnancy safe for both mother and child," she said.