Study: Depakote Epilepsy Drug Can Increase Risk for Newborns

Doctors have reported that expectant mothers with epilepsy who took Depakote, a commonly prescribed drug to control seizures, were at increased risk of having a child with mental deficits, according to an article dated May 4, 2007 in the New York Times.

In that study, the Times reported, toddlers who had been exposed in the womb to the drug Depakote, from Abbott Laboratories, scored seven to eight points lower on I.Q. tests at age 2 than those whose mothers had been taking other epilepsy drugs while pregnant.

They were twice as likely to score in the range associated with mental retardation, according to the authors, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston.

Other researchers said the findings should be considered preliminary because I.Q. measures were less reliable in 2-year-olds than in older children; the study will continue, tracking children through age 6.

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