European Study Links Depakote to Birth Defects

Groningen, NetherlandsA recent European study revealed that pregnant women who use the antiseizure drug Depakote during their first trimester put their babies at risk of six types of birth defects.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">ABC News reports that the study, led by Lolkje T.W. de Jong-van den Berg of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, analyzed more than 98,000 pregnancies. Researchers found that risk of spina bifida, a serious spinal defect, increases 12 times for babies whose mother take Depakote.

Children of women on the drug are at double the risk of an atrial septal defect, a heart condition. They are five times as likely to be born with a cleft palate or with hypospadias, a condition affecting boys whereby the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis instead of on the end.

Researchers also found that craniosynostosis, a condition where the bones of the skull close too early, is seven times more likely to occur in the children of mothers who take Depakote during pregnancy.