Effects of Common Anti-epileptic Drugs on the Serum Levels of Homocysteine and Folic Acid

Objectives: elevated total plasma homocysteine has been establishedas an independent risk factor for cvd. a strong relationship betweenplasma homocysteine levels and mortality has been reported in patientswith cad. interference with folate and homocysteine metabolism bysome drugs, may lead to increased plasma homocysteine levels. theobject of the study was to examine the effect of aeds on the serumconcentrations of folic acid.methods: a total of 22, older than 18-year-old, epileptic patients, admittedin the neurology clinic, who were treated with aed at least forone year were selected. twenty-two sex- and age-range-matched controlswere enrolled in the study. concentrations of total homocysteineand folic acid in the serum were measured in a fasted status. demographicand medicine information was collected via a questionnaire.data were analyzed by spss16 software.results: mean of serum hcy concentration in the patients was significantlyhigher compared to that in the controls (p = 0.04). serum folicacid had a nonsignificant negative correlation with the dose of drugused (p = 0.2). serum homocysteine was not significantly correlatedwith the dose and duration of drug consumption (p values were 0.4,0.24, respectively). serum homocysteine was not significantly correlatedwith the kind of drug (p = 0.4), but folic acid concentration was significantlylower in the monotherapy group than in the poly therapy group(p = 0.02).conclusions: homocysteine (hcy) was not different between theepileptic and nonepileptic groups, although the means of the serumfolic acid were similar. possible mechanisms by which aeds couldcause hyper-homocysteinemia might be through the dysfunction ofhomocysteine metabolism, the acceleration of vitamin metabolism, andthe interference in the metabolism of folic acid coenzymes.