Older Epilepsy Drugs Have Birth Defect Risk

Pregnant women suffering from epilepsy need to better informed about the risks of birth defects from treatments used to control their seizures, researchers said on Tuesday. The risk of serious birth defects such as a small head or stunted growth from anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) is about 2 to 3 percent but a study of pregnancy registers showed it can be much higher with an older treatment.

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