Seizure Drug Used During Pregnancy Increases Baby's Risk of Autism

Children born to mothers who took the anti-seizure drug valproate were five times more likely to be born with autism than those whose mothers didn’t take the medication, a Danish study found.
The epilepsy drug was also tied to a three-fold increase of autism spectrum disorder, which includes Asperger syndrome and other developmental disorders, according to research published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Autism Screening Urged for Young Children with Epilepsy

BALTIMORE – All young children with epilepsy should also undergo screening for autism spectrum disorders and developmental delay, a study has shown.
In a pair of pediatric epilepsy units, 77% of children screened positive for development delay, and 36% screened positive for autism. About one-third of those children were previously undiagnosed.
Because the conditions often occur concurrently, a screening of children 5 years and younger can make a life-changing difference, Anne Berg, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.

Link Between Epilepsy and Childhood Brain Development

A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
Described in the August 23 Advance Online issue of Nature Medicine, these new findings provide the first genetic link between childhood brain development and a seizure disorder that lasts throughout adulthood, and also identify a new pathway that controls how neuron circuits are "pruned" and matured.