The Effect of Fetal Antiepileptic Drug Exposure on Verbal Versus Non-Verbal Abilities at Three Years Of Age

Meador et al reported in a study published  in January 11,2011 issue of Brain that children who were exposed to antiepileptic drug un utero had lower  verbal cognitive abilities than nonverbal. This effect was reported to all antiepileptic drugs in the study, including phenytoin, carbamazepine, lamotrigine  and valproate. Use of folate before and during pregnancy showed to improve cognitive outcomes in the offsprings. There was dose related effect with  valproate in verbal and nonverbal abilities and with carbamazepine in verbal  abilities. But still more research needs to be performed in this field to confirm  these findings and  include new antiepileptic drugs in the scope of future studies.