Anti-Seizure Drugs Cause Birth Defects

The April 12, 2001 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine finds that anti-seizure drugs given for epilepsy can cause birth defects in the babies of pregnant women who take them.

The study, done at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals, focused on 316 babies whose mothers had taken the drugs while pregnant and 98 whose mothers had taken the drugs but stopped before pregnancy occurred. Babies born to 508 women without epilepsy were used as a control group. The deformities monitored were those of the face and fingers as well as head circumference which is a good indication of brain development.

According to lead author Dr. Louis B. Holmes, 21% of babies whose mothers had taken one anti-seizure drug during pregnancy suffered birth defects. In the group of mothers who took at least two anti-seizure drugs during pregnancy, 28% of their babies suffered defects. 8.5% of babies born to women in the control group had defects. None of the 98 babies whose mothers had stopped the drugs before pregnancy had any major birth defects.

Dr. Ed Dodson, who is past president of the Epilepsy Foundation of America and a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis says, "for a long time I've believed it's the drugs. There are other investigators who don't. I think this helps clarify a complicated issue." The study also reports that phenobarbital, long considered one of the safest anti-seizure drugs, is just as likely to produce the same problems as other anti-seizure medications.