Skip to main content
Advertisement
  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Education
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • Online Sections
    • Neurology Video Journal Club
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
    • Neurology: Clinical Practice Accelerator
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Neurology Future Forecasting Series
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Patient Pages
    • Topics A-Z
    • Translations
    • UDDA Revision Series
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Author Center

Advanced Search

Main menu

  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Education
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • Online Sections
    • Neurology Video Journal Club
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
    • Neurology: Clinical Practice Accelerator
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Neurology Future Forecasting Series
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Patient Pages
    • Topics A-Z
    • Translations
    • UDDA Revision Series
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Author Center
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Neurology Video Journal Club
  • Residents & Fellows

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Neurology
Home
The most widely read and highly cited peer-reviewed neurology journal
  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in
Site Logo
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Neurology Video Journal Club
  • Residents & Fellows

Share

November 30, 2010; 75 (22) Articles

Effects of breastfeeding in children of women taking antiepileptic drugs

K.J. Meador, G.A. Baker, N. Browning, J. Clayton-Smith, D.T. Combs-Cantrell, M. Cohen, L.A. Kalayjian, A. Kanner, J.D. Liporace, P.B. Pennell, M. Privitera, D.W. Loring, For the NEAD Study Group
First published November 24, 2010, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181ffe4a9
K.J. Meador
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
G.A. Baker
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
N. Browning
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
J. Clayton-Smith
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
D.T. Combs-Cantrell
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
M. Cohen
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
L.A. Kalayjian
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
A. Kanner
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
J.D. Liporace
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
P.B. Pennell
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
M. Privitera
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
D.W. Loring
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Full PDF
Citation
Effects of breastfeeding in children of women taking antiepileptic drugs
K.J. Meador, G.A. Baker, N. Browning, J. Clayton-Smith, D.T. Combs-Cantrell, M. Cohen, L.A. Kalayjian, A. Kanner, J.D. Liporace, P.B. Pennell, M. Privitera, D.W. Loring, For the NEAD Study Group
Neurology Nov 2010, 75 (22) 1954-1960; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181ffe4a9

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Permissions

Make Comment

See Comments

Downloads
0

Share

  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Abstract

Background: Breastfeeding is known to have beneficial effects, but there is concern that breastfeeding during antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy may be harmful to cognitive development. Animal and human studies have demonstrated that some AEDs can adversely affect the immature brain. However, no investigation has examined effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on subsequent cognitive abilities in children.

Methods: The Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs Study is an ongoing prospective multicenter observational investigation of long-term effects of in utero AED exposure on cognition. Between 1999 and 2004, we enrolled pregnant women with epilepsy who were taking a single AED (carbamazepine, lamotrigine, phenytoin, or valproate). We recently reported on differential AED effects on age 3 year cognitive outcomes. In this report, we focus on the effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on age 3 cognitive outcomes in 199 children.

Results: A total of 42% of children were breastfed. IQs for breastfed children did not differ from nonbreastfed children for all AEDs combined and for each of the 4 individual AED groups. Mean adjusted IQ scores (95% confidence intervals) across all AEDs were breastfed = 99 (96–103) and nonbreastfed = 98 (95–101). Power was 95% to detect a half SD IQ effect in the combined AED analysis, but was inadequate within groups.

Conclusions: This preliminary analysis fails to demonstrate deleterious effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on cognitive outcomes in children previously exposed in utero. However, caution is advised due to study limitations. Additional research is needed to confirm this observation and extend investigations to other AEDs and polytherapy.

Footnotes

  • Study funding: Supported by the NIH/NINDS (2 RO1 NS038455 and R01NS050659) and the UK Epilepsy Research Foundation (RB219738).

  • AED
    antiepileptic drug
    NART
    National Adult Reading Test
    NEAD
    Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs
    TONI
    Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
    WASI
    Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence.

  • Editorial, page 1948

  • Supplemental data at www.neurology.org

  • Received February 1, 2010.
  • Accepted May 7, 2010.
  • Copyright © 2010 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
View Full Text

AAN Members

We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.

Google Safari Microsoft Edge Firefox

Click here to login

AAN Non-Member Subscribers

Click here to login

Purchase access

For assistance, please contact:
AAN Members (800) 879-1960 or (612) 928-6000 (International)
Non-AAN Member subscribers (800) 638-3030 or (301) 223-2300 option 3, select 1 (international)

Sign Up
Information on how to subscribe to Neurology and Neurology: Clinical Practice can be found here 

Purchase
Individual access to articles is available through the Add to Cart option on the article page.  Access for 1 day (from the computer you are currently using) is US$ 39.00.  Pay-per-view content is for the use of the payee only, and content may not be further distributed by print or electronic means.  The payee may view, download, and/or print the article for his/her personal, scholarly, research, and educational use.  Distributing copies (electronic or otherwise) of the article is not allowed.

Letters: Rapid online correspondence

No comments have been published for this article.
Comment

REQUIREMENTS

You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.

Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.

If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.

Submission specifications:

  • Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
  • Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
  • Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
  • Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
  • Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.

More guidelines and information on Disputes & Debates

Compose Comment

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
NOTE: The first author must also be the corresponding author of the comment.
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Publishing Agreement
NOTE: All authors, besides the first/corresponding author, must complete a separate Publishing Agreement Form and provide via email to the editorial office before comments can be posted.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

You May Also be Interested in

Back to top
  • Article
    • Abstract
    • METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • COINVESTIGATORS
    • DISCLOSURE
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENT
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Advertisement

Association Between Fluctuations in Blood Lipid Levels Over Time With Incident Alzheimer Disease and Alzheimer Disease–Related Dementias

Dr. Sevil Yaşar and Dr. Behnam Sabayan

► Watch

Related Articles

  • Antiepileptic drugs and breastfeedingDo we tell women “no”?

Alert Me

  • Alert me when eletters are published

Recommended articles

  • Articles
    Effects of fetal antiepileptic drug exposure
    Outcomes at age 4.5 years
    K.J. Meador, G.A. Baker, N. Browning et al.
    Neurology, April 04, 2012
  • Article
    Effects of periconceptional folate on cognition in children of women with epilepsy
    NEAD study
    Kimford J. Meador, Page B. Pennell, Ryan C. May et al.
    Neurology, December 23, 2019
  • Article
    IQ at 6 years after in utero exposure to antiepileptic drugs
    A controlled cohort study
    Gus A. Baker, Rebecca L. Bromley, Maria Briggs et al.
    Neurology, December 24, 2014
  • Views and Reviews
    Pregnancy registries in epilepsy
    A consensus statement on health outcomes
    K. J. Meador, P. B. Pennell, C. L. Harden et al.
    Neurology, August 13, 2008
Neurology: 101 (13)

Articles

  • Ahead of Print
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Popular Articles
  • Translations

About

  • About the Journals
  • Ethics Policies
  • Editors & Editorial Board
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Submit

  • Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Information for Reviewers
  • AAN Guidelines
  • Permissions

Subscribers

  • Subscribe
  • Activate a Subscription
  • Sign up for eAlerts
  • RSS Feed
Site Logo
  • Visit neurology Template on Facebook
  • Follow neurology Template on Twitter
  • Visit Neurology on YouTube
  • Neurology
  • Neurology: Clinical Practice
  • Neurology: Education
  • Neurology: Genetics
  • Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • AAN.com
  • AANnews
  • Continuum
  • Brain & Life
  • Neurology Today

Wolters Kluwer Logo

Neurology | Print ISSN:0028-3878
Online ISSN:1526-632X

© 2023 American Academy of Neurology

  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Advertise