Type of Prenatal Antiseizure Drug Matters for Children’s Autism Risk

Children born to people who received valproate, an antiseizure medication, during pregnancy had about a 2.7 times higher chance of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by age 8 years than those born to people who were not treated with antiseizure medications prenatally, according to results from about 4.3 million US pregnancies and 4.2 million children. However, in utero exposure to topiramate and lamotrigine—other common antiseizure therapies—was not tied to autism risk after adjusting for the pregnant parent’s epilepsy.