The hemostatic system in neonates whose mothers took antiepileptic agents during pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: to study the frequency of thrombohemorrhagic events and the specific features of hemostatic parameters in neonatal infants whose mother have received antiepileptic agents (AEA) during pregnancy.Subjects and methods. One hundred and eighty-seven newborn infants were followed up. There was an absolute preponderance of valproic acid and carbamazepine among the drugs taken by the pregnant women. Hemostatic parameters were examined in the umbilical cord blood of 16 fullterm neonates. A control group consisted of 11 full-term neonatal infants of non-epileptic mothers who had received no AEA during pregnancy. The clinical follow-up showed no thrombohemorrhagic events in all 187 cases. A hemostatic study revealed a proportional reduction in the levels of procoagulants and physiological anticoagulants and an increase in the content of von Willebrand factor in Groups 1 and 2 (a control group). Overall, the hemostatic parameters in Groups 1 and 2 of the newborns did not significantly differ from those in healthy full-term neonates