Epilepsy Drug May Raise Autism Risk in Offspring

Women taking the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant are at increased risk of delivering a child who develops autism.
The British findings add to previous research showing that valproate and other anti-epilepsy drugs can contribute to birth defects.

"There's a fair amount of early data that indicates, for instance, that valproate may cause neural tube closure problems. That's an indication that valproate affects brain development," said Dr. Michel Berg, medical director of the Strong Epilepsy Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "That's an indication that valproate affects brain development. It's not surprising that it might affect other aspects of brain development."
Physicians are already cautious about prescribing valproate and other drugs to pregnant women or women planning to become pregnant, however.

Drugs for this condition have encountered other problems. Previous studies have also found that pregnant women who use the epilepsy drug topiramate (brand name Topamax) alone or in combination with other epilepsy drugs may be increasing their risk of birth defects. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently considered, but eventually rejected, adding a black-box warning that anti-seizure drugs can increase suicidal tendencies in patients.

There is a possibility that more children in the study could be diagnosed with autism or related disorders as time progresses, given that most are still young.