Lolkje T. W. de Jong-van den Berg

TL;DR: The use of valproic acid monotherapy in the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with significantly increased risks of several congenital malformations, as compared with no use of antiepileptic drugs or with use of other antiespecific drugs.

TL;DR: It is concluded that many drugs used by non-pregnant women should be avoided in pregnancy, and that pregnant women indeed do so, however, for some drug groups the available safe alternatives are limited.

TL;DR: De Jong-Van Den Berg et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a method for drug exploration at the University Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE) of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

TL;DR: An extensive literature review of studies in the English language which examined the associations between selected drugs and specific birth defects and found it is a cause of concern that the drugs most often dispensed in the first trimester of pregnancy are not necessarily the drugs for which teratogenic risks have been studied.

TL;DR: Findings show that exposure of the fetus to valproic acid during the first trimester is associated with an increased risk of 6 specific malformations, as compared with no exposure to antiepileptic drugs or exposure to other antIEpilesptic drugs.