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Teratogenic risk of antiepileptic drugs assessed

June 4, 2018
  • Advising on this article:
  • Jack J. Chen

KEY POINT

A prospective analysis of data from a European pregnancy registry of antiepileptic drugs published in Lancet Neurology showed that use of valproate had the highest prevalence of major congenital abnormalities (10.3%), whereas agents such as oxcarbazepine (3.0%), lamotrigine (2.9%), and levetiracetam (2.8%) had the lowest prevalence. Also, dose dependency in prevalence was noted for select agents, with higher dosages having greater teratogenic risks than lower dosages.

SOURCES

Tomson T, et al. Comparative risk of major congenital malformations with eight different antiepileptic drugs: A prospective cohort study of the EURAP registry. Lancet Neurol. 2018;[Epub ahead of print].

Pennell PB, et al. Prescribing antiepileptic drugs to women of reproductive age. Lancet Neurol. 2018;[Epub ahead of print].

 

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