Safety of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy

Women with epilepsy taking antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy have been shown to have an increased risk of having a child with a major malformation. There is some recent evidence to suggest that these drugs may also affect cognitive and behavioural development. Epilepsy is a common neurological condition and women with epilepsy constitute a significant number of pregnancies in the UK each year. Some of the drugs used to treat epilepsy are increasingly being used in the treatment of migraine and other pain syndromes and also in psychiatry principally for the control of bipolar affective disorder. This article looks at the evidence currently available in assessing the safety of the individual agents used in pregnancy.