ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2022
Valproate prescription to women of childbearing age in English primary care: repeated cross-sectional analyses and retrospective cohort study.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Preconception indicators and associations with health outcomes reported in UK routine primary care data: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Characteristics and temporal trends of EU teratological safety signals and information dissemination to healthcare professionals in the Netherlands-A contribution of the ConcePTION project.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Capability, opportunity and motivation for shared decision-making about valproate as an antiseizure medication treatment for epilepsy in women with pregnancy potential: A qualitative study of patient perspectives.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Valproic acid-induced placental toxicity: mechanistic insights and the therapeutic potential of bioactive folates.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Temporal Changes in Reporting of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes After Maternal Exposure to Valproate: A Contribution of the ConcePTION Project.Drug safety · 2025Observational
- A comparative study on the efficacy of different combinational anti-seizure medication therapies following valproate monotherapy failure.Acta epileptologica · 2025Article
- Trends in Prenatal Exposure to Antiseizure Medications Over the Past Decade: A Nationwide Study.Neurology · 2025Article
- Anti-seizure Medications: Challenges and Opportunities.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2024Review
- The valproate prescription pattern for female mental healthcare users of reproductive age.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2024Article
- Impact of Risk Minimisation Measures on Valproate Use among Women of Reproductive Age in Latvia Between 2013 and 2020: A 7-Year Nationwide Prescription Database Study.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2023Article
- Preconception care in primary care: supporting patients to have healthier pregnancies and babies.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2022Article
- Longitudinal Australian trends in the initiation of valproate medication among women of reproductive age and concurrent use of prescription contraceptives.Women's health (London, England)Article
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5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundValproate is a teratogenic drug that should be avoided during the preconception period and pregnancy. The aim was to explore general practitioners' (GPs) prescription patterns over time, describe trends, and explore inter-practice variation within primary care.
methodsWe identified women of childbearing age (12-46 years old) in the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) sentinel network. We performed repeated cross-sectional analyses from 2004 to 2018 to determine rates of prescription and a retrospective cohort estimated the prevalence of use of valproate during pregnancy.
resultsIn 2004, 0.31% (95% Confidence Interval (95%CI):0.18 to 0.44%) women were prescribed valproate, decreasing to 0.16% (95%CI:0.07 to 0.24%) by 2018. Among women with epilepsy, the rate fell from 15.2% (95%CI:14.4 to 16.0%) to 8.8% (95% CI:8.2 to 9.7%) over the same period. In 2018, almost two thirds (62.2%) of women who were prescribed valproate had epilepsy only, whereas bipolar disorder and migraine accounted for 15.8% and 7.4% respectively. Contraceptive prescriptions did not increase over time, and only in 2018 was there greater odds of being prescribed contraception (OR 1.41, 95%CI:1.08 to 1.45). Just under a fifth (19.7%) of women were prescribed valproate during their pregnancy; two out of three of these pregnancies were preceded by folic acid prescription (5 mg). While some practices reduced their rate of valproate prescription, others did not.
conclusionsRegulatory guidelines have changed GPs' prescription patterns in women of childbearing potential for valproate but not for contraception. Further research is needed to identify the barriers of GPs and women of childbearing potential to undertaking contraception.
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