Epilepsy drug ‘doubles children’s autism risk’ if their mother takes it while pregnant

Daily Mail UK ^ | August 14, 2022 | Martyn Halle

[Morgana]

A drug used to prevent epileptic seizures and migraine has been found to double the chances of a child developing autism if their mother takes it while pregnant.

An urgent review has been launched into topiramate, known by the brand name Topamax, which has been prescribed for decades.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has begun a safety review to assess the ‘benefits and risks’ of the drug, which is likely to raise the odds of other intellectual impairments, as well as congenital birth defects.

It follows warnings about another epilepsy drug, sodium valproate, marketed as Epilim, which has been linked to higher-than-normal rates of the same conditions.

Seven years ago the MHRA ordered that women of child-bearing age should be warned about sodium valproate’s risks. However, pregnant women were still being prescribed it earlier this year. Experts believe 20,000 babies have been harmed as a result.

The MHRA launched its investigation late last month, after Scandinavian scientists conducted an observational study looking at rates of autism and intellectual disability in children whose mothers took topiramate while pregnant.

They found that about three per cent of such children had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis – double the 1.5 per cent rate among those not exposed to the drug.

[bgill]

Imagine that. Powerful meds can affect a growing fetus. We keep seeing this time and time again but ignore the lesson.

[yldstrk]

I am on it right now for migraine. Works great but I am 66, not going to get pregnant.

[SomeCallMeTim]

Ping

[aimhigh]

A similar study found the same result for Tylenol.

[LadyDoc]

nothing new here.
However, the study is flawed. They compare the rate of autism for children of women with epilepsy to the rate of autism for children of normal women.

But previous studies show that women with epilepsy who are on any medicine have almost the same amount of congenital problems women with epilepsy who are not on any medicine: the reason is because of the genetics behind their epilepsy.

So the study has to compare the percentage of autistic children in women with epilepsy who take medicine and compare it to the percentage of austistic children born of women with epilepsy who are not on medicine.

and they need to note the problem of brain damage of children born whose mothers had severe seizures after stopping their epileptic medicine: and tell us the percentage of women who die of status epilepticus from stopping the medicine.