Journal article
Changing patterns of antiepileptic drug use in pregnant Australian women
FJE Vajda, S Hollingworth, J Graham, AA Hitchcock, TJ O'Brien, CM Lander, MJ Eadie
Acta Neurologica Scandinavica | Published : 2010
Abstract
Objective - To trace the pattern of antiepileptic drug (AED) use in pregnant Australian women annually from 1999 to 2007, and correlate it with the pattern of AED use in the wider community. Methods - Analysis of data from the Australian Register of AEDs in Pregnancy, related to Australian population data for AED prescriptions. Results - Over the study period, prescribing of carbamazepine, phenytoin and valproate for pregnant women decreased, and prescribing of lamotrigine, topiramate and levetiracetam increased. These changes tended to parallel prescribing trends in the wider community, except for valproate, whose prescribing in the overall community increased as its prescribing, and its do..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge the support of our colleagues, medical and non-medical for referring patients and increasing patient awareness of the Register. We thank the Scientific Advisory Board and the Ethical Research Committees of St. Vincent's Hospital, Monash Medical Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and other institutions We are indebted for support from the Epilepsy Society of Australia, The Victorian Epilepsy Foundation, Epilepsy Australia and generous financial support from the pharmaceutical industry, including Sanofi-Synthelabo, UCB Pharma, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis and Pfizer, and past support from Glaxo.