Journal article

Withdrawal of valproic acid treatment during pregnancy and seizure outcome: Observations from EURAP

T Tomson, D Battino, E Bonizzoni, J Craig, D Lindhout, E Perucca, A Sabers, SV Thomas, F Vajda

Epilepsia | WILEY | Published : 2016

Abstract

Based on data from the EURAP observational International registry of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and pregnancy, we assessed changes in seizure control and subsequent AED changes in women who underwent attempts to withdraw valproic acid (VPA) during the first trimester of pregnancy. Applying Bayesian statistics, we compared seizure control in pregnancies where VPA was withdrawn (withdrawal group, n = 93), switched to another AED (switch group, n = 38), or maintained (maintained-therapy group, n = 1,588) during the first trimester. The probability of primarily or secondarily generalized tonic–clonic seizures (GTCS) was lower in the maintained-therapy group compared with the other two groups, bo..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Netherlands Epilepsy Foundation (NEF)


Funding Acknowledgements

EURAP has received financial support from the following pharmaceutical companies: Bial, Eisai, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, and UCB; from Netherlands Epilepsy Foundation (NEF) grant 03-18 (Lindhout); and from Stockholm County Council, ALF (Tomson). The sponsors had no influence on the conduct of the study, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript, or the decision to publish the results.