Valproate discontinuation in girls and women of childbearing age with epilepsy: An Italian multicenter retrospective study on prescribing patterns and outcomes
VPA was rarely withdrawn or substituted in WOCP with epilepsy, in secondary and tertiary care settings following European regulatory restrictions. This likely reflects a population with severe epilepsies where VPA is difficult to replace; whereas women with milder epilepsies likely discontinued VPA earlier, as evidenced by its low overall prescription frequency. Withdrawal of VPA from a polytherapy regimen was associated with a threefold increased risk of seizure exacerbation.
Authors
- Angela La Neve (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6776-9007)
- Valeria Todaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3477-4843)
- Francesca Bisulli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1109-7296)
- Loretta Giuliano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2512-6972)
- Katherine Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4681)
- Giulia Monti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9404-1273)
- Giovanni Falcicchio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0745-5246)
- Cecilia Catania
- Emanuele Cerulli Irelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3906-555X)
- Roberta Esposto
- Diana Polo
- Laura Maria Beatrice Belotti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5828-6780)
- Elena Zambrelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8476-0960)
- Carlo Andrea Galimberti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4811-474X)
- Federica Ranzato
Institutions
- University of Catania (IT)
- Istituto Ramazzini (IT)
- Ospedale San Paolo (IT)
- Institute of Neurological Sciences (IT)
- Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna (IT)
- International Renal Research Institute of Vicenza (IT)
- Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Santi Paolo e Carlo
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Epilepsia
- Published
- 2025-01-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.18281
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Pharmacological Effects and Toxicity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.48
Funders
- Università di Catania
- Università degli Studi di Verona