Taking Epilepsy Drugs During Pregnancy Escalates Risks of Autism, Birth Defects in Children: Study

Exposure to anti-epileptic drugs in the mother's womb affects normal brain development and increases the risks of autism in children, new research reveals.

Epilepsy is a brain disorder. A person suffering from it is at a high risk of experiencing frequent seizures.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that leads to significant social, communication and behavioral changes. A latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that one in every 50 school children in the U.S. is affected with autism.

A team of Norwegian researchers recruited a group of mothers and their children from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) for the study. The scientists recorded prevalence of parental epilepsy among the children.

Development of the children (motor, language and social skills) was monitored at two different stages of growth- at 18 months (61,351 children) and at age 3 (44,147 children). More than 1300 children had either a father (653) or mother (726) with the condition. Of the total children, 333 had exposed to antiepileptic drugs in mother's womb.

Dr. Gyri Veiby from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway and team found that women who used antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy had children who showed higher abnormal gross motor skills and autistic characters at 18 months, with an additional risk of abnormalities in sentence skills at three years. Apart from that, the drug exposure had placed children at greater risks of birth defects than children who were not exposed.

Children whose mothers had epilepsy, but discontinued taking the drug during pregnancy didn't show any developmental delays.

"Our study-a unique large-scale, population-based study on early developmental outcomes in offspring of parents with epilepsy-confirms that children exposed to anti-seizure medications in the womb had lower scores for key developmental areas than children not exposed to AEDs," Dr. Veiby, wrote, in a news release.  "Exposure to valproate, lamotrigine, carbamazepine or multiple anti-seizure medications was linked to adverse developmental outcomes."

The findings published in the journal Epilepsia thus provide another concrete evidence to highlight the importance of avoiding epilepsy medication during pregnancy.

Countless studies in the past have shown that the use valproate, an epilepsy drug, increased the risk of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in children. It also lowered the child's intelligence levels. Early this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cautioned pregnant women against treating their migraines with valproate.