Abstracts

Rationale: The aim of this study was to clarify the influence of levetiracetam (LEV) and valproic acid (VPA) monotherapy for six months on sex-steroid hormone profile in prepubertal children. Methods: A total of thirty prepubertal children participated in the study. Ten children with idiopathic epilepsy (mean [SD] age 8.8 [2.2] years) were treated with VPA, ten age- and sex-matched children were treated with LEV (8.4 [2.5] years) and ten healthy, age- and sex-matched children (8.4 [2.2] years) served as controls. Results: VPA treated children showed the greatest androstendione concentrations when compared to LEV treated children (p=0.004) and to healthy controls (p=0.003). All other reproductive endocrine hormones were similar among groups. Furthermore, the VPA group had a greater BMI standard deviation score (p=0.032) and a tendency for higher percentage body fat (p=0.051) when compared to the LEV group, but not when compared to controls. Conclusions: In prepubertal children, VPA treatment is associated with high serum androstendione levels whereas LEV does not seem to induce changes in sex-steroid concentrations. LEV is a new antiepileptic drug with known efficacy exhibiting a good safety profile with respect to reproductive endocrine functions in the younger age group.