Source: Diabetologia  |  Posted 8 years ago

Long-term use of valproate does not appear to contribute to weight gain in children 12 years and under with epilepsy, according to a small study.

H. Caksen and colleagues from the department of paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey, assessed the effects long-term use of valproate on weight gain and leptin levels in children with epilepsy. Participants in the study were 15 children with newly diagnosed epilepsy taking valproate and 16 healthy, age-matched control subjects. The participants were aged 9 months to 12 years.

Over the course of the study, 9 of the 15 with epilepsy and 8 of the 16 healthy children gained weight. The two groups of children were similar with respect to body mass index (BMI) and serum leptin levels. Patients taking valproate who gained weight had higher leptin levels than those not taking valproate (5.65 versus 3.28 ng/ml), but there was no difference in leptin levels between the patients who gained and those who did not gain weight.

In patients taking valproate, there was a significant correlation between BMI and serum leptin levels (r=0.704, p=0.003). In the control group, these two factors were not correlated (r=0.330, p=0.211).