Effects of anticonvulsant drug on liver enzymes among children in a tribal state of India: A longitudinal study

INTRODUCTION: Epilepsy is a syndrome of various neurological disorders. Idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity is a rare adverse effect associated with antiepileptic drugs (AED) therapy. Antiepileptic drugs may produce hepatic injury as part of a more widespread hypersensitivity reaction. Laboratory monitoring of asymptomatic effects may allow for the early detection of hepatotoxicity. So the present prospective longitudinal study was carried out to determine the effects of Anticonvulsant drug on liver enzymes among Epileptic Children. MATERIALS METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted among children with seizure disorder attending Paediatric outdoor patient Department of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi from February 2014 to October 2015. 50 children with newly diagnosed or untreated seizure disorder were included in case and 50 children of both sexes with same age group as cases were selected as control who did not have seizure. Children with age ranging from 2-10 years were included by consecutive sampling technique. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25(IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Paired t test was used to compare the mean values of liver enzymes amongst the children.”P-value” was considered to be non – significant if found ≥ 0.05 and significant if P-value was found to be <0.05. RESULTS: In the present study there was no significant alteration of hepatic profile after treatment with valproate except serum alkaline phosphatase which was increased from the initial value than control group and was statistically significantly with P value of less than 0.05. CONCLUSION: We concluded that these Antiepileptic drugs are safe to use in children up to 1 year.