Drug risk to unborn babies
WOMEN who take a common epilepsy drug while pregnant risk having mentally impaired children, a study has shown.
Three-year-olds whose mothers took valproate had average IQs six to nine points lower than children of women prescribed three other epilepsy medicines, scientists found.
Women of childbearing age should avoid valproate as a treatment for epilepsy, say the researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Women who are pregnant and taking the drug should not stop their treatment without consulting a physician.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West

