Infants Exposed in Utero to Antiepileptic Drugs

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Abstract
Twenty-eight newly born infants exposed in utero to various anticonvulsant drugs have been followed up from birth to 36 months of age, and their clinical status has been compared to that of 165 infants not exposed to these agents. A clustering of physical findings observed in the infants exposed to anticonvulsant agents makes these infants an identifiable population among neonates. Disfiguring or life-threatening malformations occurred more frequently in these infants, as did failure to thrive and Gesell developmental quotients of less than 90 at 21 months of age or greater. By the method of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, commonly used anticonvulsant agents have been identified in maternal and neonatal urine and plasma.