Epilepsy Drug Study Links It To Retardation In Children

Lee Coleman

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The annual meeting of the Academy of Neurology in Boston documented the potential dangers of the drug Valproate in unborn children. Researchers say that one in four women who took the drug while pregnant gave birth to children who were mentally retarded, that's double the rate of those who took other epilepsy medications.

"Dr. Jacqueline French, a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study, said the latest findings were of great concern and that women of childbearing age should be informed of the risks, which are not included on the drug's warning label.
"It is time to have a different kind of conversation with our patients," French said.
An estimated 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy, a disorder in which clusters of nerve cells in the brain signal abnormally, causing seizures. Valproate has long been the preferred drug for treating generalized epilepsy, which affects up to half of patients."