الفهرس 
Epilepsy in children and adolescentsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The relationship between epilepsy and thyroid dysfunction has many perspectives, one of which is the effect of AEDs on thyroid functions. A hospital based case control prospective study was conducted aiming to study the relationship between VPA and CBZ on thyroid hormone levels, namely FT3, FT4 and TSH, in children and adolescents.
This study included 3 groups; a group of 20 epileptic patients who were receiving VPA, a group of 20 epileptic patients who were receiving CBZ and a control group that included 20 healthy ages and sex matched non-epileptic individuals. Serum samples for measuring the levels of FT3, FT4 and TSH were obtained from all of them.
The first two groups included patients ranging from 2 to 18 years with epilepsy, where the diagnosis of epilepsy was established clinically from the history and the available investigatory tools. Patients should be compliant on VPA or CBZ for at least 6 months with a proper dose according to their weight. Patients with history of thyroid disease before onset of treatment and patients receiving other AEDs rather than VPA and CBZ or combined treatment of VPA or CBZ were excluded.All of the groups were compared with no statistical differences regarding the demographic data. Analysis of the laboratory data showed that serum FT3 was significantly lower in CBZ and VPA groups compared to the control group (P= 0.041 and P= 0.013 respectively), with no significant difference between CBZ and VPA groups. As well as, serum FT4 was significantly lower in CBZ and VPA groups compared to the control groups (P= 0.001 and P= 0.001 respectively), with no significant difference between CBZ and VPA groups.
There were no correlations between the changes of the thyroid hormone levels from one hand and the age group, dose of medication or duration of treatment from the other hand.
Serum TSH was found to be significantly higher in VPA group compared to the control group (P= 0.036) yet not above the normal range except for one case where serum TSH was high and proven to have subclinical hypothyroidism. This only case of subclinical hypothyroidism had no statistical significance.
On the other hand there was no significant difference between CBZ and control group regarding serum TSH level. There was no significant difference between CBZ and VPA groups, when compared with each other as regard their effect on serum TSH level.