Study: ‘Rethink’ Use of Anti-seizure Medications After Hospital Discharge in Neonates

May 26, 2021

Article, originally published in JAMA Neurology

Researchers observed no difference in functional neurodevelopment or epilepsy among children aged 24 months regardless of whether anti-seizure medication was discontinued or maintained in infants at discharge once seizures ceased.

Results of the comparative effectiveness study were published in JAMA Neurology.

“These results support discontinuing anti-seizure medications (ASMs) for most neonates with acute symptomatic seizures prior to discharge from the hospital, an approach that may represent an evidence-based change in practice for many clinicians,” Hannah C. Glass, MDCM, MAS, a pediatric neurologist, founding codirector of the neurointensive care nursery and director of neonatal critical care services at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote.