Antiepileptic drugs tied to incident Parkinson disease

Antiepileptic drugs are associated with incident Parkinson disease, according to a study published online Dec. 27 in JAMA Neurology.

Daniel Belete, M.B.Ch.B., from Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues have investigated the association between antiepileptic drugs and incident Parkinson disease using data from 1,433 individuals with a Parkinson disease diagnosis and 8,598 matched controls. Routinely collected prescription data derived from primary care were used to define exposure to antiepileptic drugs (carbamazepine, lamotrigine, levetiracetam, and sodium valproate).

The researchers observed an association between antiepileptic drug prescriptions and incident Parkinson disease (odds ratio, 1.80) in a dose-response fashion, with a trend for a greater number of prescription issues and multiple antiepileptic drugs being associated with a greater risk for Parkinson disease.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observational study to investigate a range of antiepileptic drugs and their association with incident Parkinson disease. As such, it sets the scene and highlights the need for further work to corroborate our findings in other large data sets because these findings could have important implications for clinical decision-making," the authors write. "The underlying reasons for an association between antiepileptic drugs and Parkinson disease should be further explored."

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