
Women still unaware of risks of valproate use in pregnancy - Charity survey finds
One in ten (11%) women who are currently taking the epilepsy medicine valproate are unaware of the possible risk of birth defects if taken in pregnancy. Furthermore, one in five (18%) don’t know that, when taken in pregnancy, the medicine could also cause learning and developmental delays in children. These worrying figures come from a newly published survey by the charities Young Epilepsy, Epilepsy Action and Epilepsy Society.