ArticleJournal of neurology2021
Anti-seizure medication is not associated with an increased risk to develop cancer in epilepsy patients.
Article in Journal of neurology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The use of cultured human hepatocytes as a test system to evaluate cell proliferation as a key event in nongenotoxic carcinogenesis.Archives of toxicology · 2026Article
- Real-World Evidence from a Large German Outpatient Database for Oncology Research: A Narrative Review.Cancers · 2026Review
- High-dose folic acid use and cancer risk in women who have given birth: A register-based cohort study.Epilepsia · 2025Article
- The potential of dibenzazepine carboxamides in cancer therapy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized to Community Hospitals With Malignant Brain Tumors and Factors Associated With Discharge Destination.HCA healthcare journal of medicine · 2024Article
- The efficacy and safety of novel antiepileptic drugs in treatment of epilepsy of patients with brain tumors.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Maternal and childhood medical history and the risk of childhood brain tumours: a case-control study in Ontario, Canada.British journal of cancer · 2023Article
- Application of humanized mice to toxicology studies: Evaluation of the human relevance of the mode of action for rodent liver tumor formation by activators of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR).Journal of toxicologic pathology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWhether anti-seizure medication (ASM) increases the risk for cancer has been debated for decades. While for some ASM, a carcinoma-promoting effect has been suspected, carcinoma-protective effects have been shown for other ASM. However, the issue remains unresolved as data from preclinical and clinical studies have been inconsistent and contradictory.
methodsWe collected anonymous patient data from practice neurologists throughout Germany between 2009 and 2018 using the IMS Disease Analyzer database (QuintilesIMS, Frankfurt, Germany). People with epilepsy (PWE) with an initial cancer diagnosis and antiepileptic therapy prior to the index date were 1:1 matched with a control group of PWE without cancer according to age, gender, index year, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and treating physician. For both groups, the risk to develop cancer under treatment with different ASMs was analyzed using three different models (ever use vs. never use (I), effect per one (II) and per five therapy years (III).
resultsA total of 3152 PWE were included (each group, n = 1,576; age = 67.3 ± 14.0 years). The risk to develop cancer was not significantly elevated for any ASM. Carbamazepine was associated with a decreased cancer risk (OR Model I: 0.699, p < .0001, OR Model II: 0.952, p = .4878, OR Model III: 0.758, p < .0004). SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that ASM use does not increase the risk of cancer in epilepsy patients.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.