Prenatal Use Of Common Epilepsy Drug Tied To Higher Autism Risk

• Women who take the epilepsy drug valproate (Depacon) during pregnancy may increase the risk of childhood autism in their children, a population-based study showed.

• In utero exposure to the drug was associated with elevated risks of both autism and autism spectrum disorder, Jakob Christensen, PhD, of Denmark's Aarhus University Hospital, and colleagues found. The study showed that the risks were 2.5% and 4.4%, respectively, and remained significantly elevated after adjustment for parents' epilepsy and psychiatric disease, the group reported in the April 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

• The study included 655,615 children born in Denmark from 1996 through 2006.

• The American Academy of Neurology recommends avoiding valproate in pregnancy whenever possible due to cognitive and physical birth defect problems for children exposed in utero.

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