Taking Epilepsy Drug During Pregnancy Ups Autism Risk

Washington (dbTechno) – Researchers have found that pregnant women who take the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy increase their child’s risk of developing autism.

The study, which was published on monday in the Neurology, found a direct link between the epilepsy drug and autism.

Researchers were led by Gus Baker of the University of Liverpool and colleagues.

They found that 6.3% of women with epilepsy who took the drug during pregnancy ended up having a child with autism.

This compared to less than 1% of the women without epilepsy who did not take the drug.

The study focused on a total of 632 children, with half of them coming from mothers with epilepsy.

They stressed that the study is too small and preliminary to conclude that other medications are safe at this point.

This backs up the long-time belief that some of these types of anti-seizure drugs can increase the risk of birth defects.

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