Archimedes January 2021. The Era of Bones and Epilepsy

We all have moments of crying out “But why on EARTH did they do that study?” after a blisteringly obvious result is revealed … and we chat a little here about why that might be the case (https://adc.bmj.com/content/106/1/90.2) but the real story of this episode is all about antiepileptic drugs (AED) and bones.

We start asking the question “Do children on AED get thinner bones?” (https://adc.bmj.com/content/106/1/92) and lead from there to the question “Well should we prescribe Vitamin D to all of them?” (https://adc.bmj.com/content/106/1/90.1). If anyone here isn’t aware of it, you should take extra special precautions if you’re prescribing sodium valproate to patients who could become pregnant: the short version would be “prescribe something else”.