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Cognitive Side Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs in Children
These drugs, such as Depakote, are also commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and even migraines.
-Antiepileptic drugs decrease membrane excitability, increase postsynaptic inhibition or alter synchronization of neural networks to decrease excessive neuronal excitability associated with seizure development. Common side effects of decreasing neuronal excitability, however, are slowed motor and psychomotor speed, poorer attention and mild memory impairment (Meador, 2005).
-[…]treatment decisions made in childhood may have lifelong implications. Adults who developed epilepsy during their childhood tend to have less education, decreased rates of employment and employment at lower job levels, lower rates of marriage, poorer physical health, and increased incidence of psychiatric disorders (Jalava and Sillanpaa 1997a, 1997b; Jalava et al., 1997; Sillanpaa et al., 1998). Importantly, these long-term effects are also present in adults who are no longer taking medications. The persistence of these effects after discontinuation of AED treatment suggests a role of either seizure etiology, cumulative effects of repeated seizures or AED treatment permanently altering the course of development
-Studies in rats have shown significant AED effects in the developing brain including apoptotic neurodegeneration
-The AAP Committee on Drugs (1995) concluded, “Few studies have been comprehensive, and for most drugs, neuropsychological effects have been incompletely described.”
-In studies, children on phenobarbital displayed IQ declines (Farwell et al., 1990; Wolf et al., 1981), and although IQ improved following discontinuation of phenobarbital (Farwell et al., 1990; Sulzbacher et al., 1999), there continued to be long-term achievement effects when these children were tested three to five years later (Sulzbacher et al., 1999). The inability of children to fully catch up and compensate for “lost time” is important because it suggests a more complex interaction of AED therapy and developmental maturation than simply interfering with new learning efficiency. Because IQ declines are thought to reflect slowed mental growth rather than a loss of previously acquired cognitive function or cognitive regression, concern exists that any AED with cognitive side effects may result in significant impairment based upon cumulative effects if used over extended periods.
-In children, AED effects are seen in decreased performance on the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) [a measure of ADHD] (Mandelbaum et al., 2003) or memory. In addition, some children are at heightened risk for developing disproportionate cognitive side effects with carbamazepine [Tegretol](Seidel and Mitchell, 1999). Treatment with carbamazepine has also been associated with electroencephalogram slowing in the alpha range (Frost et al., 1995). How these short-term effects translate into academic achievement has not been adequately established (Bailet and Turk, 2000). However, there appears to be some relationship between the magnitude of EEG slowing and subsequent decline on selected Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) subtests tested after one year of therapy (Frost et al., 1995).
-Topiramate [Topamax] has an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pediatric use, although there is evidence from many sources that at certain doses there is a risk of neuropsychological impairment (Dooley et al., 1999; Kockelmann et al., 2003; Meador et al., 2003; Salinsky et al., 2005). The possibility that some patients may be at heightened risk for cognitive impairment with topiramate remains a possibility (Meador et al., 2003). Although worse than those of most newer AEDs, the cognitive side effects of topiramate are generally comparable to those associated with valproate sodium (Meador et al., 2003). [Depakote]
-In addition, no comparative randomized, controlled trials have been conducted in children using newer AEDs available in the United States
http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/05/24-of-children-of-mothers-prescribed.html
-24 percent of the children of mothers who took valproate [Depakote] during pregnancy showed an IQ in the mental retardation range. That alarming finding was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 - May 5, 2007.
Blackwell Synergy - Epilepsia, Volume 43 Issue 5 Page 482-490, May 2002 (Article Abstract)
Blackwell Synergy - Epilepsia, Volume 43 Issue 5 Page 482-490, May 2002 (Full Text)
-Results: Both CBZ [Tegretol] and GBP [Neurontin] significantly decreased the peak frequency of the posterior (alpha) rhythm, with CBZ exerting a greater effect. Ten CBZ and six GBP subjects exceeded the 95% confidence interval (CI) for an individual. Cognitive tests revealed AED vs. control group effects for two of seven measures (Digit Symbol, Stroop) and all subjective measures. However, few subjects exceeded the 95% CI for any objective test. Differences between CBZ and GBP were not significant. Greater EEG slowing was associated with greater subjective neurotoxicity and poorer test–retest performance on a cognitive test summary measure.
Conclusions: Prolonged CBZ and GBP therapy induced EEG slowing that correlated with cognitive complaints and often exceeded the confidence interval for individual subjects. Quantitative EEG measures may be useful in the objective determination of AED-related neurotoxicity.
E-epilepsy - Foetal Valproate Syndrome and Autism: Additional Evidence of an Association
-Valproate is an anti-epileptic drug which is known to be potentially teratogenic, originally associated with an increased risk for neural tube defects. More recently, foetal valproate syndrome has been recognised as a clinical entity characterised by phenotypic abnormalities of the face, developmental delay and occasional major organ abnormalities involving respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genitourinary and skeletal systems. There have also been reports that offspring exposed to Sodium Valproate during pregnancy are more likely to have further educational needs, including autistic traits.
This paper describes a series of five patients with foetal valproate syndrome (FVS), who also had clear evidence of autism. All the patients showed evidence of cognitive deficit, manifestation of autism and typical phenotypic characteristics of FVS.
This paper describes a series of five patients with foetal valproate syndrome (FVS), who also had clear evidence of autism. All the patients showed evidence of cognitive deficit, manifestation of autism and typical phenotypic characteristics of FVS.
CJO - Abstract - Influence of major antiepileptic drugs on neuropsychological function: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled withdrawal study of seizure-free epilepsy patients on monotherapy
-[…]in subjects with therapeutic drug levels at baseline, drug withdrawal was associated with significant improvement in performance on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the Stroop Color–Word Interference Test.
Blackwell Synergy - Epilepsia, Volume 47 Issue 12 Page 2038-2045, December 2006 (Article Abstract)
-The major finding in this study is that discontinuation of major AEDs significantly improved performance on tests that require complex cognitive processing under time pressure. The difference in speed of cognitive processing between the two groups on these tasks was between 24 to 43 ms. Simple tasks of attention and reaction time revealed no significant differences between the discontinuation group and the nondiscontinuation group. Most of the subjects in the study were medicated with carbamazepine (CBZ) [Tegretol] and valproate (VPA) [Depakote]. The outcome of discontinuation of CBZ was similar to the outcome for the total study population, whereas withdrawal of VPA revealed only a nonsignificant tendency in the same direction.
Dr Justin H G Williams
-Dean JCS, Williams JHG , Rasalam AD, et al. Reversal of sex ratio in fetal anticonvulsant syndrome associated autistic disorder: possible evidence that some anticonvulsants disturb imprinted genes? American Journal of Human Genetics (2002) 71 (4): 31 Suppl.