ArticleEpilepsia2026
Development of cerebral lateralization in children exposed to fetal antiseizure medications: A prospective cohort study at age 6 years.
Article in Epilepsia, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe previously reported in a prior cohort that fetal exposure to antiseizure medications (ASMs), especially valproate, was associated with reduced right-handedness and poorer verbal versus nonverbal performance in children at age 6 years. Given changes in prescribing practices in epilepsy over the past 2 decades, we enrolled a new cohort of the Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (MONEAD) study to determine whether fetal exposure to newer generation ASMs is associated with altered cerebral lateralization in children at age 6 years and to assess exposure-dependent effects on handedness, manual dexterity, and verbal/nonverbal abilities.
methodsThe MONEAD multicenter prospective cohort study followed children of women with epilepsy (WWE) on ASMs and healthy women (HW) until age 6 years. We assessed handedness using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, manual dexterity through the Grooved Pegboard Test, and verbal/nonverbal abilities with the Differential Ability Scales-II. Outcomes were analyzed in relation to ASM exposure, controlling for confounders.
resultsOf 1123 screened pregnant women, 351 children born to WWE and 105 to HW were enrolled. The overall distribution of handedness and verbal/nonverbal scores did not differ between groups. However, subgroup analyses revealed that higher third-trimester levetiracetam concentrations were significantly associated with nondextrality (p = .03, 95% confidence interval [CI] = .03-.67). Across the WWE cohort, higher ASM concentrations correlated with poorer manual dexterity (coefficient = 6.76, 95% CI = .40-13.11, p = .037). Additionally, periconceptional folate supplementation was associated with better nonverbal outcomes (coefficient = 2.54, 95% CI = .93-4.15, p = .002) and parental stress was linked to poorer verbal scores (coefficient = -19.74, 95% CI = -28.48 to -11, p < .001). SIGNIFICANCE: This cohort reassuringly showed no overall difference in verbal/nonverbal abilities between WWE and HW. Fetal ASM exposure had exposure-dependent effects on manual dexterity. Modifiable factors, including folate supplementation and parental stress, significantly influenced developmental outcomes, underscoring the importance of proactive screening and providing intervention when appropriate.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.